US-based sprinter Olivia Ekpone will no longer compete internationally for Nigeria after her application for a transfer of allegiance from Nigeria to the US was granted by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
The 24-year old is one of the few athletes whose applications had been submitted for review before the freezing of the transfer of allegiance process by the IAAF Council on February 6th, 2017.
Ekpone made her debut for Nigeria at the 2016 Texas Relays where she partnered with Stephanie Kalu, Ngozi Onwumere and Christy Udoh in the 4x100m, finishing in 5th place with a time of 44.24s. She also ran at the Penn Relays where she competed in the 4x100m and 4x200m relays.
Ekpone placed 2nd behind Blessing Okagbare in the 200m at last year’s Nigerian Trials, and was listed to compete in the 4x100m at the Rio Olympic Games after failing to make the Olympic standard in the 200m.
However, she ended up missing the Games as she wasn’t given a travel ticket as stated in her interview with towncourier.com: ‘”I had the visa, I had my suitcase packed, I had my uniform,” said Ekpone. All she needed was an airplane ticket to travel with the team from Nigeria to Rio. But it never arrived.’
Ekpone who majored in Communications and Journalism at Texas A&M, has a Personal Best (PB) of 11.11s in the 100m and 22.23s in the 200m, and set both times in 2014 where she was ranked joint 5th in the world with Okagbare in the 200m.
She has competed for the US at junior level, winning a Bronze medal in the 2009 Youth Olympic Games, Silver in the 200m at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Barcelona, and GOLD in the 4x400m at the same competition.
Interestingly, 18-year old Chiebuka Emmanuel Ihemeje who is based in Italy, was also granted a transfer of allegiance from Nigeria to Italy even though he’s yet to compete for Nigeria.
The IAAF is not receiving new requests for transfers of allegiance until further notice, when new rules and processes are adopted by the Council.
