09/09/2001

2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia An Overall Success

The 2001 Goodwill Games, held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, from Aug. 29 – Sept. 9, met or exceeded the expectations of Goodwill Games organizers and partners, officials announced today. The 14-sport multi-national sporting competition concluded today on Brisbane’s South Bank with a closing ceremony featuring a performance by INXS and a fireworks extravaganza. The Brisbane Goodwill Games marked the first time the event has been held outside the United States and Russia.

“Operationally, as well as in terms of ticket sales and overall deliverance of quality entertainment and sporting competition, the 2001 Goodwill Games are the most successful Games to date,” said Mike Plant, president of Goodwill Games, Inc. “We are on track to meet our ratings expectations for the Games, even though we have yet to see final numbers for our primetime show’s featuring Michael Johnson’s last competitive race and Michelle Kwan’s figure-skating match-up with Russian-rival Irina Slutskaya,” added Plant.

U.S. ratings for the Games have averaged a 1.0 in prime time over the final nights of competition and continue to rise. Turner Network Television (TNT) was the host U.S. broadcast network, airing 83 hours of original programming, 55 hours live. Nine Network Australia broadcast the 2001 Goodwill Games locally. Many of the events played to sell-out crowds with nearly 80% of the 330,000 tickets available sold (260,000+) during the 12-day competition. World records were set in weightlifting and athletics, and Red…Paint the Town, the Games free entertainment program, drew record turnouts for Brisbane.

Highlights of the Brisbane Games also include the victory of American sprinter Marion Jones over Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, who defeated her at the World Championships last month; the rematch of the U.S. swimmers and a powerhouse Australian team led by Olympians Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett; the dominance of the U.S. basketball team of young superstars, including Shane Battier, Jason Terry, Mike Miller and Shawn Marion; and an opening-night celebration featuring The Coors, Keith Urban and performances by Aboriginal musicians and dancers.

The 2001 Goodwill Games, hosted by Brisbane, Australia, featured 14 sports during 12 days of competition. The Goodwill Games hosted an elite field of competitors in athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, cycling (track), diving, figure skating, gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, surf lifesaving, swimming, trampoline, triathlon and weightlifting.

Planning has begun for the 2005 Winter Goodwill Games in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Goodwill Games were founded by AOL Time Warner Vice Chairman R.E. Turner in 1986 to ensure that the world's best athletes have the opportunity to compete in world-class competition. The Goodwill Games, Inc. is a division of Turner Sports, the sports programming and production unit of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., an AOL Time Warner company.