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Goodwill Games

The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s.[1] In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other Western countries to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, an act reciprocated when the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries (with the exception of Romania) boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Goodwill Games
Logo of the second Games in Seattle
First eventMoscow, USSR in 1986
Occur every4 years
Last eventBrisbane, Australia in 2001
PurposeReaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s
HeadquartersAtlanta, Georgia, United States

Like the Olympics, the Goodwill Games were held every four years (with the exception of the final Games), and had a summer and winter component. However, unlike the Olympics, figure skating, ice hockey and short track speed skating were part of summer editions. The Summer Goodwill Games occurred five times, between 1986 and 2001, while the Winter Goodwill Games occurred only once, in 2000. They were canceled by Time Warner, which had bought ownership of them in 1996, due to low television ratings after the 2001 games in Brisbane.

Overview

The first Goodwill Games, held in Moscow in 1986, featured 182 events and attracted over 3,000 athletes representing 79 countries. World records were set by Sergey Bubka (pole vault), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (heptathlon), and both the men and women's 200 m cycle racing, by East Germany's Michael Hübner and the Soviet Union's Erika Salumäe, respectively. World records also fell at the 1990 Games in Seattle, to Mike Barrowman in the 200 m breaststroke and Nadezhda Ryashkina in the 10 km walk.

The 1994 Games in Saint Petersburg, Russia were the first competition held since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russians set five world records in the weightlifting section, and the games were the first major international event to feature beach volleyball, which would appear at the Olympics for the first time at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

In October 1996, Turner's company, the Turner Broadcasting System, merged with Time Warner, thus bringing the Goodwill Games under the control of the latter. Ted Turner's last games were in 1998 in New York City, with memorable highlights including Joyner-Kersee winning her fourth straight heptathlon title, the U.S. 4 × 400 m relay team setting a world's best time, plus Michelle Kwan and Todd Eldredge winning the gold in figure skating, and Dominique Moceanu capturing the women's gymnastics gold medal. Time Warner organized the 2001 Games in Brisbane, Australia, before announcing that this would be the last edition of the games. With the cancellation of the games, Phoenix, Arizona and Calgary lost their respective summer and winter games, scheduled for 2005. The 2001 edition witnessed Australia winning the most medals with 75, but it received very low television ratings in the United States. Nevertheless, critics praised Turner Network Television for showing the games live, rather than on tape delay.

During a live interview at the 2009 Denver SportAccord conference, Turner blamed the demise of the games on the short-sighted management of Time Warner, and stated, "If I'd have stayed there the Goodwill Games would not have been canceled."[2][3] Turner expressed hope that the games would return as a bridge to restore cultural contact between Russia and the U.S., stating that the relationship between the two had steadily disintegrated since the Cold War, which he called a dangerous situation due to both countries' massive nuclear arsenals. He also reiterated his belief in the power of international sporting competitions to prevent war, saying that "as long as the Olympics are taking place and not being boycotted, it's virtually impossible to have a world war", because the nations involved "wouldn't want a war to mess up their chances".[2]

Summer Goodwill Games

class=notpageimage|
Host cities of the Goodwill Games
Edition Year Host city County/Province/Region/State/Territory Country Notes
I 1986 Moscow   Soviet Union 3,000 athletes and 79 countries
II 1990 Seattle Washington   United States 2,300 athletes and 54 countries
III 1994 Saint Petersburg   Russia 2,000 athletes and 59 countries
IV 1998 New York City New York   United States 1,300 athletes and 60 countries
V* 2001 Brisbane Queensland   Australia 1,300 athletes and 58 countries
VI 2005 Phoenix Arizona   United States Games cancelled
  • The 2001 Goodwill Games were the final edition

Winter Goodwill Games

Edition Year Host city Country Notes
I 2000 Lake Placid, New York   United States Only Winter Goodwill Games ever held
II 2005 Calgary, Alberta   Canada Games cancelled

Sports

Summer sports

Winter sports

Participating countries

See also

References

  1. ^ Jere Longmsn (December 22, 2001). "GOODWILL GAMES; Turner's Games, Losing Money, Are Dropped". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b Ted Turner interview, Dever SportAccord 2009, YouTube
  3. ^ "Olympic Briefs -- Possible Goodwill Games Revival; Pope Meets with Volleyball Organizers".
  4. ^ Men's basketball was not held as a separate event in 1986 because the World Basketball Championship was taking place in Madrid at the same time. The world championship results determined the Goodwill Games winners.
  5. ^ Motoball was held only in 1986; the host country was allowed to include one sport of its choice.
  6. ^ At the 2000 Games, the figure skating event featured professional skaters because of conflicts with Olympic-eligible skaters competing in their national championships. This enabled France's Surya Bonaly to become the only skater in history to win the same event as both an amateur and professional skater as she also won in 1994.

External links

  Media related to Goodwill Games at Wikimedia Commons

goodwill, games, were, international, sports, competition, created, turner, reaction, political, troubles, surrounding, olympic, games, 1980s, 1979, soviet, invasion, afghanistan, caused, united, states, other, western, countries, boycott, 1980, summer, olympi. The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s 1 In 1979 the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other Western countries to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow an act reciprocated when the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries with the exception of Romania boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles Goodwill GamesLogo of the second Games in SeattleFirst eventMoscow USSR in 1986Occur every4 yearsLast eventBrisbane Australia in 2001PurposeReaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980sHeadquartersAtlanta Georgia United StatesLike the Olympics the Goodwill Games were held every four years with the exception of the final Games and had a summer and winter component However unlike the Olympics figure skating ice hockey and short track speed skating were part of summer editions The Summer Goodwill Games occurred five times between 1986 and 2001 while the Winter Goodwill Games occurred only once in 2000 They were canceled by Time Warner which had bought ownership of them in 1996 due to low television ratings after the 2001 games in Brisbane Contents 1 Overview 2 Summer Goodwill Games 3 Winter Goodwill Games 4 Sports 4 1 Summer sports 4 2 Winter sports 5 Participating countries 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksOverview EditThe first Goodwill Games held in Moscow in 1986 featured 182 events and attracted over 3 000 athletes representing 79 countries World records were set by Sergey Bubka pole vault Jackie Joyner Kersee heptathlon and both the men and women s 200 m cycle racing by East Germany s Michael Hubner and the Soviet Union s Erika Salumae respectively World records also fell at the 1990 Games in Seattle to Mike Barrowman in the 200 m breaststroke and Nadezhda Ryashkina in the 10 km walk The 1994 Games in Saint Petersburg Russia were the first competition held since the dissolution of the Soviet Union Russians set five world records in the weightlifting section and the games were the first major international event to feature beach volleyball which would appear at the Olympics for the first time at the 1996 Atlanta Games In October 1996 Turner s company the Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner thus bringing the Goodwill Games under the control of the latter Ted Turner s last games were in 1998 in New York City with memorable highlights including Joyner Kersee winning her fourth straight heptathlon title the U S 4 400 m relay team setting a world s best time plus Michelle Kwan and Todd Eldredge winning the gold in figure skating and Dominique Moceanu capturing the women s gymnastics gold medal Time Warner organized the 2001 Games in Brisbane Australia before announcing that this would be the last edition of the games With the cancellation of the games Phoenix Arizona and Calgary lost their respective summer and winter games scheduled for 2005 The 2001 edition witnessed Australia winning the most medals with 75 but it received very low television ratings in the United States Nevertheless critics praised Turner Network Television for showing the games live rather than on tape delay During a live interview at the 2009 Denver SportAccord conference Turner blamed the demise of the games on the short sighted management of Time Warner and stated If I d have stayed there the Goodwill Games would not have been canceled 2 3 Turner expressed hope that the games would return as a bridge to restore cultural contact between Russia and the U S stating that the relationship between the two had steadily disintegrated since the Cold War which he called a dangerous situation due to both countries massive nuclear arsenals He also reiterated his belief in the power of international sporting competitions to prevent war saying that as long as the Olympics are taking place and not being boycotted it s virtually impossible to have a world war because the nations involved wouldn t want a war to mess up their chances 2 Summer Goodwill Games Edit 1986 1990 1994 1998 2001 2005 cancelled class notpageimage Host cities of the Goodwill Games Edition Year Host city County Province Region State Territory Country NotesI 1986 Moscow Soviet Union 3 000 athletes and 79 countriesII 1990 Seattle Washington United States 2 300 athletes and 54 countriesIII 1994 Saint Petersburg Russia 2 000 athletes and 59 countriesIV 1998 New York City New York United States 1 300 athletes and 60 countriesV 2001 Brisbane Queensland Australia 1 300 athletes and 58 countriesVI 2005 Phoenix Arizona United States Games cancelledThe 2001 Goodwill Games were the final editionWinter Goodwill Games EditEdition Year Host city Country NotesI 2000 Lake Placid New York United States Only Winter Goodwill Games ever heldII 2005 Calgary Alberta Canada Games cancelledSports EditSummer sports Edit Sport 86 90 94 98 01Archery Artistic gymnastics Athletics Baseball Basketball 4 Beach volleyball Boxing Canoeing Cycling Diving Figure skating Football Handball Ice hockey Judo Modern pentathlon Sport 86 90 94 98 01Motoball 5 Rhythmic gymnastics Rowing Short track speed skating Surf lifesaving Swimming Synchronized swimming Taekwondo Tennis Trampolining Triathlon Volleyball Water polo Weightlifting Wrestling Yachting Winter sports Edit Alpine skiing Bobsleigh Cross country skiing Figure skating 6 Freestyle skiing Luge Nordic combined Skeleton Ski jumping Snowboarding Speed skatingParticipating countries EditAfrica and Middle East Algeria Benin Burkina Faso Cote d Ivoire Ethiopia Kenya Morocco Namibia Nigeria Senegal Seychelles Syria Tanzania Tunisia North Yemen later as Yemen ZimbabweAsia and Oceania Australia Bangladesh Cambodia China Japan North Korea South Korea Laos New Zealand Philippines American Samoa Taiwan as Chinese Taipei Vietnam Europe Great Britain Finland France Greece Ireland Italy Portugal Spain Sweden West Germany later as Germany YugoslaviaEastern Bloc Belarus Bulgaria Czechoslovakia later as the Czech Republic Czechoslovakia later as Slovakia East Germany later as Reunified Germany Estonia Hungary Kazakhstan Latvia Lithuania Poland Romania Soviet Union later as Russia Ukraine Uzbekistan North America Canada Mexico United StatesCaribbean and Central America Bahamas Costa Rica Cuba Jamaica Puerto Rico Trinidad and TobagoSouth America Argentina Brazil Colombia Ecuador Peru UruguaySee also EditLiberty Bell Classic Friendship GamesReferences Edit Jere Longmsn December 22 2001 GOODWILL GAMES Turner s Games Losing Money Are Dropped The New York Times a b Ted Turner interview Dever SportAccord 2009 YouTube Olympic Briefs Possible Goodwill Games Revival Pope Meets with Volleyball Organizers Men s basketball was not held as a separate event in 1986 because the World Basketball Championship was taking place in Madrid at the same time The world championship results determined the Goodwill Games winners Motoball was held only in 1986 the host country was allowed to include one sport of its choice At the 2000 Games the figure skating event featured professional skaters because of conflicts with Olympic eligible skaters competing in their national championships This enabled France s Surya Bonaly to become the only skater in history to win the same event as both an amateur and professional skater as she also won in 1994 This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Goodwill Games news newspapers books scholar JSTOR February 2009 Learn how and when to remove this template message External links Edit Media related to Goodwill Games at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Goodwill Games amp oldid 1126779832, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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