10 Jul 2012

Germany field smallest Olympic team since reunification

6:15 am on 10 July 2012

Germany will field their smallest Olympic team since the country's reunification in 1990 at this month's London Games after nominating 391 athletes.

The Germans, long an Olympic powerhouse, will send a team of 217 men and 174 women, to London.

Among those called up for national duty are 23 medal winners from the 2008 Beijing Olympics where Germany sent a team of 440 athletes and finished in fifth place on the medals table.

Team officials say the delegation is stronger because despite having just three teams in the team sports compared to nine in Beijing they still came close to 400 athletes.

Germany sent 449 athletes to the 2004 Athens Games and 428 athletes to Sydney four years earlier.