Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones headed to Rio Olympics to join NBC

Ghostbusters star and Saturday Night Live cast member Leslie Jones is bringing her enthusiasm for the Olympic games to Rio itself.

NBC said Monday that Jones will join the networks' Olympic coverage team on Friday.

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After seeing a series of tweets the comic had sent about the Olympics, including a video where she was wrapped in an American flag and wearing plastic gold medals, NBC Olympics executive producer Jim Bell invited her to join the team.

NBC says Jones will attend Olympic events, meet athletes and talk about the Games on the air and online.

Since the Games started in Rio last week, Jones has been exuberantly sharing her enthusiasm on social media, discussing a wide range of sports and cheering on the U.S. athletes as well as international competitors, from 41-year-old gymnast Oksana Chusovitina from Uzbekistan to the Canadian and New Zealand women's rugby teams to Japanese and Korean ping pong players. 

Jones has moved up fast at NBC, joining SNL as a writer two years ago and becoming a cast member last year.

She starred with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon in Ghostbusters.