Brazil intends to have in Beijing the country's best performance in the Olympic Games, surpassing the results of Athens 2004 when the country won five gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

According to the head of the Brazilian delegation Marcus Vinicius Freire, the country will get to the Beijing games more prepared than ever. More investment has been made and there are more athletes likely to win medals than in any other edition of the Olympic Games.

Brazil will send to Beijing its largest delegation in the history of modern Olympic Games with 277 athletes.

It is the third consecutive time that Freire heads the Brazilian Olympic Delegation. A former volleyball player, Freire is an Olympic athlete himself: he was in the team that won the silver medal in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

In an interview to local daily O Globo, Freire said that Brazil has good chances of winning medals in several sports, such as swimming, gymnastics, sailing and judo.

He added that, unlike in other games, several athletes from the same sport have chance to win medals. It is the case in the gymnastics competition: in Athens, Brazil had only one athlete in the finals. According to experts, at least three of Brazil's gymnasts are likely to qualify for the finals.

The Beijing Olympic Games may be even more special to the Brazilian delegation if one of the country's female athletes manages to bring home a medal in an individual competition.

Brazilian female athletes have won several Olympic medals, but only in team sports such as volleyball, football and basketball. The country's many renowned female athletes who will compete in Beijing plan to change that.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2008)