Goodwill II: Will It Be the Last?

In 1986, the first Goodwill Games in the Soviet Union had one star. R.E. (Ted) Turner was creator, bankroller, broadcaster, promoter and philosopher.

“Those aren’t Communist dogs,” he said one day while watching two strays cross a Moscow boulevard and making a point about equality among men. “Those are just dogs.”

About the only thing that Turner did not do was name the Games after himself, proving that, although his ego might be one of the world’s largest, it rates no better than a silver medal against that of Donald Trump.

Four years later, the sequel, Goodwill Games II, opens today with so impressive a supporting cast that Turner no longer has to be the circus, just the ringmaster.

With more than 2,500 athletes from 52 countries entered over the next 17 days in 21 sports, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and its partners--the Seattle Organizing Committee and the Soviet Union’s Sports Committee--have organized an event that, when compared to other international competitions, is surpassed in athletic excellence only by the Olympic Games.

As made-for-TV competition, these Games might even be more viewer-friendly than the Olympics because of their format.

The organizers seeded at least one U.S. athlete and one Soviet athlete into each event and then filled the field by invitation with the six best athletes or teams available.

In team events, medalists will be determined in tournaments. In individual events, all competitors advance to the finals, eliminating the possibility of a Carl Lewis fouling out of the long jump in the semifinals or a Matt Biondi cramping up in the first heat of the 100-meter butterfly.

Biondi, who won seven swimming medals at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, is the featured performer today, when he attempts to reclaim the 50-meter freestyle record from Tom Jager at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way. They might be chasing East Germany’s Nils Rudolph, who recently beat them both in Santa Clara.

Among other duels to watch over the next 17 days are Lewis against Leroy Burrell, also of the United States, in the 100 meters; Lewis against Robert Emmiyan of the Soviet Union in the long jump; swimmer Janet Evans against Astrid Strauss of East Germany and Julie McDonald of Australia in the 800-meter freestyle; Kurt Browning of Canada against Victor Petrenko of the Soviet Union and Christopher Bowman of the United States in men’s figure skating; the United States against the Soviet Union in men’s basketball, and the United States against Cuba and Japan in baseball.

The Soviet gymnasts, pairs skaters, ice dancers and ice hockey players; the Chinese divers; the Cuban boxers, and U.S. heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee figure to be in classes by themselves.

There have been some defections in recent days, particularly in track and field:

--British miler Steve Cram, East German shotputter Ulf Timmermann and U.S. quarter-milers Butch Reynolds and Steve Lewis sent their regrets for one reason or another.

--Soviet officials will provide an update on pole vaulter Sergei Bubka’s injured back when they find him.

--The Chinese women’s basketball team withdrew Wednesday because of its poor performance this month in the World Championships.

Still, Rex Lardner Jr., senior vice president and general manager of the Goodwill Games for TBS, said Thursday that 90% of the world’s best athletes will compete in Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane and three other Washington cities.

The TBS broadcast booth, however, will serve as the stage for some of the best-known athletes, including Dwight Stones, Rick Barry, Debi Thomas, Frank Shorter, Tracy Caulkins, John Naber, Karch Kiraly, Edwin Moses, Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci. The TBS super-station will televise 86 hours of the Games in the United States and reach 71 other countries with portions of its coverage.

Another former athlete, President George Bush, had other commitments, but he sent his wife, Barbara, to speak Thursday to the Games’ 10,000 volunteers, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, to represent him in Saturday’s opening ceremony at Husky Stadium. Also scheduled to appear at the opening ceremony is former President Ronald Reagan.

For those who are not interested in sports, the Goodwill Arts Festival includes performances by Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet, Montreal’s Cirque de Soleil and Japan’s Grand Kabuki Theatre. Turner, 51, did his part by bringing frequent companion Jane Fonda to a news conference Thursday.

If Turner has maintained a lower profile in the organization of the Games than he did four years ago, one reason is that he has been busy creating a cartoon show that will have its premiere in September and is titled, “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.” Princess Gaia, spirit of the Earth, recruits five children from different countries to help her combat those who have spoiled the planet.

Turner, who is not too modest to compare his commitment to improving the world to that of Albert Einstein and Madame Curie, must have seen himself leading a similar crusade in 1985, when he formed the Better World Society.

At the same time, perplexed by U.S. and Soviet Summer Olympic boycotts in 1980 and 1984, he arrived upon the idea of the Goodwill Games to bring together athletes from the two superpowers.

With only 11 months to prepare for the inaugural Games in the summer of 1986, the competition in Moscow and the Estonian seaport of Talinn were, generally, not of the same caliber of that of this summer.

There were, however, some exceptional performances. Joyner-Kersee set her first world record in the heptathlon, becoming the first person to exceed 7,000 points. Ben Johnson ran 9.95 seconds to win the 100 meters, an event in which Lewis finished third. Another athlete who later would be disgraced because of a positive drug test, Angel Myers, won four gold medals and a bronze in swimming. Evans emerged on the international scene with two bronzes. A Cheryl Miller-led U.S. women’s basketball team handed the Soviet Union its first loss against international competition in 152 games.

But hardly anyone in the United States was paying attention. Turner suffered a ratings disaster that cost him an announced $26 million.

He has promised his advertisers significantly better ratings this time, but network executive privately admit that the numbers will be only slightly better. If interest in Seattle is an indicator, they are probably right. Despite a massive public relations campaign, only a little more than half of a 1.1 million tickets available have been sold.

Turner said Thursday that his losses will be more than the $13 million that has been projected but less than the $65 million that ABC lost on its 1988 Winter Olympics coverage in Calgary.

For the first time, he also expressed less than 100% optimism about the future of the Games, which are scheduled in 1994 for Moscow and Leningrad.

“As far as I’m concerned, the losses we will have will be hopeful enough to keep going,” he said. “We’ve got plans to go on, and we probably will.”

If this is the final Goodwill Games, that will not disappoint the International Olympic Committee. The U.S. Olympic Committee has made peace with Turner, but the IOC would rather the Goodwill Games not clutter the calendar in 1994, when Lillehammer, Norway, will stage the Winter Olympics. “Now that there is no more Cold War, there is no reason for the Goodwill Games,” IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said earlier this year.

Turner acknowledged that the Cold War has thawed, but he said there is still a place for the Goodwill Games.

“It’s the same as with your wife or your girlfriend or your children,” he said. “The relationship might be good now, but you still have to work at it to maintain that relationship.”

ORANGE COUNTY ATHLETES AT THE GOODWILL GAMES BASEBALL

Jim Austin, Coto de Caza; Phil Nevin, Placentia.

DIVING

Wendy Lian Williams, Laguna Beach; Krista Wilson, Laguna Hills.

MEN’S SWIMMING

Eric Diehl, Mission Viejo.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING

Janet Evans, Placentia.

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

Sheldon Blockburger, Newport Beach; Tonie Campbell, Irvine; Jim Doehring, San Clemente; Doug Nordquist, La Habra; Jay Thorson, Laguna Beach.

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

PattiSue Plumer, Newport Beach; Mary Slaney, Garden Grove; Karin Smith, Laguna Niguel.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Tara Cross, Irvine; Tammy Liley, Westminster; Elaina Oden, Irvine; Kimberly Oden, Irvine.