European Athletic Championships break entry records

European Athletic Championships break entry records

AP Worldstream; Jul 29, 2006

A record 1,370 athletes _ 739 men and 631 women _ from a record 48
countries have entered the Aug. 7-13 European Athletics Championships.

The European Athletics Association said Saturday that 48 countries is
the highest number ever to compete at the championships, beating the
record set in Munich, Germany, four years ago by one.

Only Armenia and Liechtenstein will not send athletes to Goteborg,
Sweden’s second largest city.

The biggest team is Russia with 118 athletes, followed by Germany with
90, Spain with 87, France and Britain with 85 and Italy with 83.

The championships will be held at Nya Ullevi Stadium, a facility built
for soccer’s 1958 World Cup. Among other events, the stadium hosted
the first NFL pre-season game in continental Europe between the
Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings in 1989, the soccer’s 1992
European Championship final won by Denmark, the 1995 World Athletics
Championships and several UEFA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup finals.