Rio de Janeiro, Jul 8 (IANS): Tanzania has become the first nation to submit its official team entry for next month's Rio Olympics, the organisers said.

The African nation of around 50 million people will send seven athletes, four of them marathon runners, according to Rio2016.com on Thursday.

"Tanzania's team will be smaller than most, but they will be warmly welcomed here and we wish them the best of luck," Rio 2016 sport entries manager Melina Xanthopoulou said, reports Xinhua.

The athletes are: Fabiano Joseph (men's marathon), Saidi Juma Makula (men's marathon), Alphonce Felix Simbu (men's marathon), Sara Ramadhani (women's marathon), Andrew Thomas Mlugu (men's judo, 73kg), Magdalena Ruth Alex Moshi (women's swimming, 50m freestyle) and Hilal Hemed Hilal (men's swimming, 50m freestyle).

More than 200 delegations will compete at the Rio 2016 Olympics, to be held from August 5 to 21.

The United States is expected to field the largest squad with around 550 athletes, followed by Brazil (450) and China (380).