Russian Alina Kabaeva, the rhythmic gymnastics Olympic champion in Athens, visited the National Artistic Gymnastics School of Cuba here on Friday, Xinhua reported.
Kabaeva invited the young Cuban gymnasts to participate in the Artistic Gymnastics of Moscow, held every year in May.
She said that her foundation would cover all the expensive of the selected Cuban gymnasts, but "they shoul only show their strength and will to practice hard."
Kabaeva, twice world champion and five in Europe, is the most exalted figure of the rhythmic gymnastics who has visited the island.
Kabaeva traveled to the island as part of the a delegation of the Russian State Duma (Parliament) aimed to boost the bilateral ties in several sectors with the local authorities.
Russia and Cuba were closed allies during the Cold War period, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the relations deteriorated till 2005 when Havana and Moscow restructured their ties.
Since then both countries have taken steps to strenghthen their links, including the reciprocal visits of the presidents Raul Castro and Dmitriy Medvedev, and the signature of several cooperation agreements in areas like energy, tourism, fishing, sports, transport and military.