Chile has set up an office in Beijing to serve Chilean athletes at the Olympic Games, as well as journalists and visitors from Chile.

The Olympic office at the Chilean Embassy has prepared about 1,000 pamphlets with information about the Olympics between Aug. 8-24, a guide to the city's transportation, shopping and sites for religious worship.

Fernando Reyes Matta, the Chilean ambassador, said the office aims to help Chilean athletes familiarize themselves with the Olympic host city so that they can achieve better results.

The South American country will send 28 Olympic athletes to Beijing, including tennis players Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez who claimed Chile's first gold medal four years ago in Athens, Greece.

Massu and Gonzalez also won a gold medal and a bronze medal in the singles tournament in Athens.

The ambassador admitted that the duo might face a greater challenge in Beijing, largely down to the presence of top players such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

But despite the performance of the athletes, Chile is set to be a highlight on the podium during the Beijing Olympics, Reyes Matta said jokingly, because the material used to make all gold and bronze medals is from Chile.

(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2008)