Pap Jonga was the youngest athlete to represent The Gambia at the Rio Games at age 19. He had not participated in any previous Olympic Games. Jonga qualified for the Games by earning a universality place from swimming's governing body FINA because his fastest time of 27.24 seconds was 4.19 seconds slower than the required qualifying standard for his event, the men's 50 metre freestyle. He became the first Gambian swimmer to qualify for an Olympic event. He was drawn in the third heat on 11 August, finishing eighth (and last) of all competitors, with a time of 27.48 seconds.Overall Jonga finished 79th out of 85 swimmers overall, and did not progress to the semi-finals after he was 6.38 seconds slower than the slowest competitor who advanced to the later stages.