Nurudeen Obalola

Nigeria’s representative in the slalom canoeing event at the London 2012 Olympics Johny Akinyemi is buzzing for the games after his preparations received a boost at the weekend.

The 23-year-old will become his country’s first ever Olympic slalom canoeist after qualifying through a race-off with Togo’s Benjamin Boukpeti in South Africa.

An obviously elated Akinyemi, who was born in Britain to parents of British and Nigerian origin but opted to represent the African country, took delivery of his equipment from his sponsors on Saturday and spread the good news on microblogging site Twitter.

He tweeted: “My new Olympic kit has arrived from Peak UK.” A picture of Akinyemi posing with the new kit accompanies the tweet.

Akinyemi came very close to a spot at the Olympics four years ago before painfully losing out, but beat Beijing 2008 bronze medalist Boukpeti to claim the historic London spot.

Recently, the Nigerian admitted that beating the French-born Togo athlete was a ‘miracle’.

"I beat Boukpeti and I think God was with me on that run. I think of it as a modern-day miracle, because he's a really good paddler. When you see his muscles, you'll understand," he told the BBC after his South Africa triumph.

Akinyemi, who holds a degree in Theology, was voted the International Canoe Federation’s Athlete of the Month in February following his victory in the African K1 Canoe Slalom Championship in South Africa, where he clinched his Olympic ticket.

Johny Akinyemi