Chilean tennis elite Fernando Gonzalez would attend the Olympic opening ceremony as the flag-bearer on Aug 8, said the Olympic champion after training in the Olympic tennis court on Wednesday.

Gonzalez said he wanted to reach the same achievement in Beijing as he did four years ago in Athens.

On Aug 22, 2004, Gonzalez and his partner Nicolas Massu won Chile's first gold medal with their five-set victory in the final of the men's doubles.

Only 16 hours later, Massu won the nation's second gold medal with his victory over Mardy Fish in the final of the singles. While Gonzalez also picked up the bronze medal in the singles.

Chilean delegation took their flag-raising ceremony in the Olympic Village with Gonzalez absent.

On explaining about his absence, Gonzalez said,"I had an important training session in the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Court, together with Rafael Nadal. I would like to attend the ceremony, but I do not want to miss the training."

Before the tennis harvest in Athens, Chile's last Olympic medal came four years earlier, when the men's football team won the bronze medal in Sydney.

Chile's first Olympic medal came in the men's marathon at the 1928 Amsterdam Games when Manuel Plaza finished second.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2008)