A record 2,593 athletes from 67 countries are planning to compete in next February's Winter Olympics in Nagano, organisers said yesterday.

The United States said it would send the most athletes - 207 - followed by host Japan with 166 and Switzerland with 163.

Bermuda, Brazil, Iran, Luxembourg and Uruguay plan to send one athlete each.

The list also includes three countries which have never competed in the Winter Olympics before - Azerbaijan, Uruguay and the Republic of Macedonia. "We hope that about 70 will end up competing," said Nagano Organising Committee (NAOC) sports director Tsunekazu Takeda.

But he still expects it to easily break the previous record for a Winter Olympics of 1,801 competitors set in Albertville in 1992. Takeda said the increased entry was due to the inclusion of three new sports - women's ice hockey, curling and snowboarding.