Jonathan Akinyemi is first the Nigerian athlete to arrive in Rio, Brazil

Nigerian canoeist, Jonathan Akinyemi, has arrived in Rio, Brazil, ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, which begins in the Brazilian City of Rio on August 5.

Akinyemi, who will represent Nigeria‎ at the Olympics for the second successive time in the canoe/slalom kayak event, arrived in Brazil on Tuesday, ahead of the other members of Team Nigeria, and was received at the Games Village by officials of Team Nigeria.

“He immediately got down to work and has not slowed down since he hit Rio,” an excited official of Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) said.

Born in England, Jonathan Akinyemi is the first Nigerian to compete in the canoeing event of the Olympic Games.

He qualified as Nigeria’s only canoeist to Rio 2016 in the men’s K-1 class by obtaining a top finish at the 2015 African Canoe Slalom Championships in Sagana, Kenya, which makes him a medal hopeful at the Rio Games.