Deutsche Presse-Agentur
July 29, 2006 Saturday 2:22 PM EST

Record number of athletes, countries for European championship

DPA SPORTS Athletics Euro Record number of athletes, countries for
European championship Hamburg

A record 1,370 athletes from 48 counties are
entered for the upcoming European athletics championships in

Gothenburg, Sweden, the ruling body EAA announced on Saturday.

The EAA said that the number of athletes is more than 100 above
those competing 1998 in Budapest and in 2002 in Munich. The last
edition saw 47 countries competing, with 48 for the August 7-13
edition in Sweden a new top mark.

Serbia and Montenegro will each send athletes after the recent
political split and acceptance as two EAA member federations. The
only countries not to compete in Gothenburg are Armenia and
Liechtenstein.

Russia, which dominated the 2002 edition with eight gold and 24
overall medals, sends the biggest team with 118 athletes, followed by
Germany (90), Spain (87), France and Britain (85 each).