WITH participation by more than 1,400 foreign athletes, the 3rd Cuban Sports Olympiad sets a record for the event, according to Manuel Trobajo, programming director of the National Sports Institute, in comments on Thursday, April 20.

Speaking on the "Roundtable" TV and radio program, Trobajo noted that 18 countries were definitely interested in the event, which due to the number of athletes involved – more than 5,000 – is comparable to the Central American and Caribbean Games.

In addition, he noted that foreign participation could still increase, given that 33 nations have expressed interest in competing in 22 of the 38 disciplines included, four of which are exhibition events.

Latin American countries already confirmed are Venezuela, with 741 athletes, and the Dominican Republic, with 158, along with Mexico, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia and Guatemala.

The sports official specified that Cuba will compete with 3,005 athletes, spread out among three teams by geographic area: Occidentales, Centrales and Orientales (western, central and eastern), and reiterated that all of the island’s top stars will participate in the event.

Trobajo emphasized that organizers plan to hold a simultaneous chess match in unison in the the country’s 14 provinces and the special municipality of the Isle of Youth, with 1,000 tables, to exceed a total of 15,000 tables.

Some novel aspects of this year’s Olympiad are the pre-selection competitions, from which the Cuban athletes will be chosen for the Central American University Games in June in Caracas, Venezuela.

René Pérez, national director of high-performance sports, explained that together with the competitions, continuing-education course will be held for coaches, offered by qualified Cuban trainers.