The 29-year-old is looking to boost his chances of tasting success at the Games by competing more on the World Cup circuit and spending time training at the Whitewater Stadium in Deodoro, which will host Olympic competition.

Dawson, who finished 15th in the men’s K1 event at London 2012, estimates that he will require $40,000 (£28,000/€35,000) to fund his preparations.

The shortfall came as a result of missing out on full funding for the Games from the New Zealand's High Performance Sport programme, after he finished 28th at the 2015 International Canoe Federation (ICF) Canoe Slalom World Championships in London.

His result, however, proved enough to secure his second successive Olympic berth, with the Kiwi having produced the fastest time in qualifying for the semi-final phase of the competition.

Dawson has opted to release the cookbook, entitled Eat like the locals, to raise the funds he requires to boost his Olympic prospects.

"I've spent so much time traveling during my career, paddling rivers in some pretty incredibly places and sampling the local food, that I decided a cookbook full of healthy recipes would be the way to go," he said.

"Rather than be that guy with his hand out, I wanted to give people something they could use, something personal and interesting, so they could share my Olympic dreams with me."

The book features 22 recipes of his favourite cuisine from across the world, divided into mains, sides and desserts.

It also includes insights into his kayaking adventures in different countries, while Dawson offers training tips to aspiring athletes.

He has established a website, which can be found here, to enable people to buy his book and donate to his efforts.

Although Dawson estimates he will need to sell over 2,000 copies to make his project worthwhile, he can also count on support from sponsors Mons Royale and Smith Optics, as well as High Performance Sport New Zealand.

"High Performance Sport have been amazing since the last Olympics and I really appreciate all they've done and continue to do," he said.

"If I'm going to give myself the best chance in Rio, however, I'm going to need to emulate the European athletes and prepare in the most professional way possible."