The 41-year-old Nigerian table tennis player made his Olympic bow at Barcelona 1992 and has appeared in Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London since then.

His qualification for Rio came after he successfully negotiated the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) African qualification tournament in Sudan's capital Khartoum today.

No-one from the continent - in any sport - has appeared at seven Olympics.

"I am very excited about this achievement," said Toriola, who has won 13 All-Africa Games gold medals and two Commonwealth titles.

"I never thought I could be playing a seventh Olympic Games in my career.

"I am honoured that I made history as the African to achieve this feat.

"It was a little difficult for me because I played under a lot of pressure, I was the favourite for this tournament, and I had to be cautious in my games as most of the players wanted to beat me.

"I ensured I was not too confident in all my matches and play them carefully.

"I am glad that I made it and I hope now to focus on the preparation for Rio, which is very vital for me."

Toriola, who reached the last 16 at Beijing 2008, progressed to Rio thanks to a 11-7, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6 win over Togo's Mawussi Agbetoglo.

Belgium's Jean-Michel Saive, Jorgen Persson of Sweden and Zoran Primorac of Croatia have all appeared at seven Olympics in table tennis.

Show jumper Ian Millar of Canada holds the record across sport, with ten Olympic appearances. 

Two places in Rio were available at the qualification tournament, with the Republic of Congo's Suraju Saka securing the other after a mammoth contest with Tunisia's Adem Haman.

He came through 10-12, 11-7, 1-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6 to seal his place in Brazil.