The 31st Summer Olympic Games, Rio

The first contingent of the South Korean delegation to the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics left for Brazil just past midnight Wednesday.

The chartered flight, carrying 159 athletes, officials and journalists, including the head of the delegation and Korea Football Association, Chung Mong-gyu, will stop over at Dubai before arriving in Rio Wednesday afternoon, local time.

Other South Korean athletes and officials will join them later.

The 333-member South Korean squad, including 204 athletes and 129 officials, will compete in 24 out of 28 sports at the Rio Games, with an aim of a top ten finish and at least ten gold medals.

The first official Olympic event for South Korea will be the men's football group stage match against Fiji on August fourth, a day ahead of the opening ceremony.

More than ten-thousand athletes from about 200 countries will compete at the Rio Summer Games, which takes place from August fifth to the 21st.