Paris Olympics: Rosemary Chukwuma qualifies for women’s 100m semi-finals

Nigeria’s Rosemary Chukwuma sprinted her way into the semi-finals of the women’s 100m at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Friday.

Chukwuma finished third behind Ewa Swaboda of Poland and UK’s Dina Asha-Smith in heat five of the event’s round one.

She clocked 11.26 seconds which, although way below her personal best, was good enough to get her into the semi-finals.

Chukwuma placed 28th fastest across the eight heats and would need to improve her performance as the competition intensified in the latter stages.

Tima Godless finished sixth in heat seven of the women’s 100m, which was far from the qualification spots.

Although the 21-year-old had a brilliant start off the block, she struggled to keep the momentum going and was left trailing her opponents to the finish line.

Favour Ofili was not named on the start list for the women’s 100 meters.

On Tuesday, the 22-year-old sprinter accused the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) of failing to register her for the event.

She blamed NOC and AFN for “taking this opportunity from me”, adding that “neither organisation can ever be trusted in the future”.

John Enoh, minister of sports development, reacted to the situation and promised sanction for the negligence.

The minister also urged the organisations to “ensure that Favour Ofili is not deprived of the opportunity to compete in the races for which she is qualified and registered to represent the country at the Paris Olympics”.