Nigeria’s sole entrant in the Slalom Canoeing event of the Rio Olympics, Jonathan Akinyemi is still gutted after failing to hit the semi final spot.
Akinyemi placed 20th in the field of 21 recording a time of 104.59 in his second run in the Men’s Kayak singles event.
‘’I made a terrible mistake that cost me the semi final spot’’, Jonathan confessed at the Games Village where he was spotted lonely.
‘’I feel sad’’, he emphasized.
However, his father, John Akinyemi who is also his coach said that he was worried because his son was yet to come to terms with the mistake that he made that ruined his chances of a medal here in Rio.
‘’He’s still sulking and feel for him. He put in so much for the Games and was sure of getting something. The whole thing is gone and my boy is still gutted’’, the father said.
He noted that his boy was still young and could still salvage everything if only the country would start now to prepare for Tokyo 2020.
‘’We need to plan and even look beyond Tokyo. Nigeria is blessed with brilliant athletes who are naturally strong. All we need do is to get good coaches and invest long time. That’s exactly what Great Britain did and they turned everything around. They had a budget of 314 billion pounds. And it translates to spending 600,000 pounds on one athlete. That’s awesome. Athletes are well prepared and they give their best and the result shows’’, Akinyemi senior said.
