BEIJING,Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The chief of the Azerbaijan Olympic delegation Ilham Madatov said here on Thursday that they would better the results achieved in Athens.

    "We won one gold and four bronze medals in the last Olympic Games, And in Beijing our aim is to improve this achievements," said Madatov after the flag-raising ceremony Thursday morning.

    Wrestling has been Azerbaijan's medal bonanza since it made its first Olympic appearance at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Namig Abdullaeyev won Azerbaijan's first Olympic medal, a silver in freestyle wrestling in Atlanta while four years later, he won gold to become the first Azerbaijani male athlete to own an Olympic title.

    However, the honour of winning the country's first Olympic gold medal went to shooter Zemfira Meftakhetdinova, when she won the women's skeet event in Sydney. She also claimed a bronze in the same event in 2004 Athens Games. And the 45-year-old veteran will launch her third charge in the Beijing Games.

    The only gold claimed by Azerbaijan in Athens also came from wrestling, with Farid Mansurov winning in the men's Greco-Roman lightweight division. The 26-year-old will fight for more glory in Beijing.

    The Azerbaijan delegation for the Beijing Games consists of 44 athletes, who will compete in wrestling, weightlifting, swimming, shooting, taekwondo, rhythmic gymnastics, judo, boxing, athletics and equestrian.