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. In 1979 the invasion of Afghanistan caused the USA and other Western countries to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, an act reciprocated when the Soviet and other Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

The first 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 200m 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 200m breaststroke and Nadezhda Ryashkina in the 10km walk.

The 1994 Games were held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the first competition since the Soviet Union had been replaced by fifteen independent republics. 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. Ted Turner's last games were in 1998 in New York City, with memorable highlights including Joyner-Kersee winning her fourth straight heptathlon title, and the U.S. 4x400m relay team setting a world's best time.

The games were later bought from Turner by Time Warner Australia, who organised the Brisbane 2001 Games, before announcing that it would be the last. The 2001 edition witnessed Australia win 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.

ummer Goodwill Games

Winter Goodwill Games

Events

* Alpine Skiing
* Archery
* Artistic Gymnastics
* Athletics
** hurdles
** triple jump
** steeplechase
** discus
** Hammer
** Heptathlon
** Shot put
** Pole vault
** high jump
** triple jump
** mile
** 20km walk
** 100m
** 200m
** 5000m
** 800m
** 400m
** relay
** long jump
** 10,000m
* Baseball
* Basketball
* Beach Volleyball
* Boxing
* Canoe/Kayaking
* Cross Country
* Cycling
* Diving
* Figure Skating
* Freestyle Skiing
* Handball
* Judo
* Luge
* Nordic Combined
* Pentathlon
* Rhythmic Gymnastics
* Rowing
* Skeleton
* Ski Jumping
* Snowboarding
* Soccer
* Speedskating
* Surf Lifesaving
* Swimming
* Syncronized Swimmiing
* Taekwondo
* Tennis
* Trampoline
* Triathlon
* Volleyball
* Water Polo
* Weightlifting
* Wrestling
* Yachting

Participating Countries

North America

* Canada
* Mexico
* United States

Caribbean and Central America
* Bahamas
* Costa Rica
* Cuba
* Jamaica
* Trinidad and Tobago

Europe
* Britain
* Finland
* France
* Greece
* Ireland
* Italy
* Portugal
* Spain
* Sweden

Eastern Block
* Bulgaria
* Czechoslovakia - later as Czech Republic
* East Germany
* Estonia
* Hungary
* Kazakstan
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Poland
* Romania
* Soviet Union - later as Russia
* Ukraine
* Uzbekistan
* Yugoslavia

Africa and Middle East
* Algeria
* Benin
* Burkina Faso
* Cote d'Ivorie
* Ethiopia
* Kenya
* Morocco
* Namibia
* Nigeria
* Senegal
* Seychelles
* Tanzania
* Tunisia
* North Yemen - later as Yemen Arab Republic
* Zimbabwe

South America
* Argentina
* Brazil
* Colombia
* Ecuador
* Uruguay

Asia and Oceania
* Australia
* Bangledesh
* Cambodia
* China
* Japan
* Laos
* New Zealand
* American Samoa?
* Taiwan
* Vietnam

Trivia

*The 1986 Goodwill Games was the first use of a single hop (Moscow to Atlanta) video transmission via the original PanAmSat satellite. The receive dish was parked on a trailer in the back parking lot of the TBS facility for the duration of the games.
*Goodwill Games organizers lent its name and logo to the "Junior Goodwill Games" scenes in the Disney movie "". That movie, in which a U.S. national team adopts the nickname of a team for which several of its stars play, was the "premiere" of the logo of the National Hockey League team of the same name, which lasted from 1993 to 2006. (That team is now called the Anaheim Ducks.)
*Larry King, the host of "Larry King Live" on sister network CNN and a huge sports fan, hosted TBS's coverage of the 1990 Games.

External links

* [http://www.goodwillgames.com Goodwill Games]