Olympic silver medallist Nijel Amos does press-ups with a meerkat on his back

An Olympic silver medalist has revealed his rather unusual training partner as he’s pictured doing press-ups with a meerkat on his back.

Nijel Amos is on the track and field team for Botswana as a middle-distance runner. At the 2012 Olympics in London, he came second in the 800 metres, winning the country’s first-ever Olympic medal.

In a clip posted on Twitter, Amos showed an interesting part of his training session as he completed press-ups with a lone meerkat happily chilling out on his back.

He captioned the post: “It’s a journey.”

The clip has been viewed almost 35,000 times, and many people in the comments have referred to Timon, the famous meerkat character from the Disney film The Lion King.

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One person jested: “You are friends with Timon?”

Another person wrote: “What an adorable training partner! Who knew meerkats are so into sports?”

Someone else joked: “When Timon ditches Pumba for humans.”

World Athletics, the international governing body that oversees athletic sports, wrote: “The perfect training buddy doesn’t exi…”

Back on The Lion King theme, another person suggested he enlist a Pumba, writing: “Now do a warthog.”

In the Tokyo Olympics this year, Amos finished 8th in the 800m final but still received a hero’s welcome on his return to his community.

The people in his hometown of Marobela gave him money and farmland to show their appreciation and celebrate his participation at The Olympic Games.

Amos wrote: “This is where I took my first steps, where I learned to walk and eventually run, where I began my athletic journey, this is my home. I am grateful for my community.”