Nigeria's First Olympic Rower Heads to Semifinals at Rio 2016

Nigerian-American rower Chierika Ukogu continues to make history at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

Nigeria's First Olympic Rower Heads to Semifinals at Rio 2016

Chierika Ukogu continues to make history at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. The 23-year-old Nigerian-American Stanford grad put her dreams of medical school on hold for two years while she was chasing another dream: becoming Nigeria’s first Olympic rower.

The road to Rio was bumpy––and self-funded––but on Saturday, Ukogu made her Olympics debut in the first round of the women’s single sculls. She came in fifteenth overall (out of 32) with a time of 8:35.34, automatically qualifying her for the quarterfinals.

At Tuesday's quarterfinals, Ukogu placed fifth in her heat and 18th overall (out of 24) with a time of 7:54.44, sending her to the C/D semifinals. “Best race so far, so I’m quite pleased,” she tweeted.

The semifinals, originally slated for Wednesday, go down Friday at 13:00 BRT (12PM EST).

We’ll be tuning in, as will much of Nigeria. The country’s first Olympic rower is gaining a steady following. She already has some pretty spectacular fan art.

From the looks of it, Rio has been nothing short of a dream come true for Ukogu.

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