Matt Wurst, Commentary Among them are several well-known athletes, including Michael Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Dan O'Brien, Michelle Kwan and Karch Kiraly. Several factors separate the Goodwill Games from the other international multi-sport competition that takes place every four years, the Olympics. Primarily, the Goodwill Games are funded by private enterprise. Media magnate Ted Turner and Time Warner have pumped millions of dollars into marketing and promotion schemes aimed mostly at the United States, as opposed to the international popularity of the Olympic Games. The athletes will be competing for something besides medals and nationalism. In all, the athletes will take home $5 million in prize money. In addition, many of the well-known athletes were paid hefty appearance fees to increase the notoriety and marketability of the Games. The organizers eliminated many of the less popular Olympic sports such as archery, rowing and tae kwon do, and added some of the events made popular by the 1996 Atlanta games such as women's soccer and beach volleyball. One of the most popular Olympic events, men's basketball, was also altered. While professional basketball players were permitted to enter, USA Basketball selects some of the best college players in the nation to represent the Stars and Stripes in the Goodwill Games. The U.S., led by Elton Brand of Duke, Khalid El-Amin of UConn and Andre Miller of Utah, took the gold medal for the first time since 1986, defeating Australia in the gold medal game. "It's our youth against everyone's experience," U.S. coach Clem Haskins said. "We faced older, very mature guys. We worked our butts off." Despite the absence of NBA players, the games drew 9,000 spectators a night to Madison Square Garden. While foreign nations such as Puerto Rico, Brazil and Australia had sizable support, the home team drew the largest and loudest cheers. In an era when fans are growing weary of the greed and selfishness of professional athletes, New Yorkers did not seem to mind the choice of the watching nation's best collegiate players rather than another Dream Team. United States dominance is another factor that makes the Goodwill Games a unique international competition. As of the first weekend of the Games, the U.S. had twice as many medals as any other country. Granted, American gold-medal-winning athletes like Johnson, who won two gold medals; Kersee, who struck gold in her final heptathlon; O'Brien, the decathlon winner; and Marion Jones, the fastest woman in the world, dominate every time they compete. The absence of top international athletes in other sports draws criticism. However, the Games are open to athletes from all nations. Therefore, the U.S. can hardly be blamed when foreign athletes, such as the premier female gymnasts, choose not to compete. The top foreign athletes who did compete, such as 100 meter world record holder Donovan Bailey of Canada and pole-vaulting Sergei Bubka of the Ukraine must shoulder the burden as well for not performing up to par. It is unfortunate that accusations of "home-cooking" tainted the spirit of goodwill. The multitude of American judges in gymnastics and figure skating stirred controversy again. "There's something not right here," Romanian gymnastics coach Octavian Belu said, threatening to withdraw from the competition. Regardless of who wins or loses, there is a guaranteed winner in the Goodwill Games. Most of the proceeds will go to aiding children's charities. Originally founded by Turner, the Games debuted in 1986 in Moscow as a response to the three consecutive Olympic boycotts in 1976, 1980 and 1984 during the height of the Cold War. With the end of the Cold War, Turner reshaped the mission of the Games to benefit charitable organizations. "We only had one cause up until now and we won that one," Turner said, speaking of the Cold War. "Now we need to get all of the problems with kids -- health care, education, hunger, child abuse -- straightened out." Despite the charitable motives, Turner is rumored to lose between $30 and $40 million by the time the Games end, which would bring the 12-year loss total to $150 million, leaving sponsors and organizers wondering how many more Goodwill Games will take place. Fan support, however, has not dwindled. In fact, the TV ratings are up 42 percent from the 1994 games. Turner and Time Warner have already made plans for the Goodwill Games of 2002.
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