The 1990 Goodwill Games

Goodwill Games

The Goodwill Games was an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...

was the second edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner

Ted Turner

Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...

, which was held between July 20 and August 5, 1990. Following an inaugural edition in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, the second games took place in Seattle, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, highlighting the competition's role in fostering good Soviet–U.S. relations. The games was opened at the Husky Stadium

Husky Stadium

Husky Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the home of the Washington Huskies...

 with a speech by former U.S. President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

. The top three nations in the medal table remained the same as the previous edition: the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 won 66 gold medal

Gold medal

A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

s and a total of 188 medals, the United States were a close runner-up with 60 gold medals and 161 medals overall, while East Germany were a distant third with 11 golds.

The games motto was "Uniting the World's Best", and a total of 2312 athletes from 54 countries engaged in the 17-day program of 21 sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

s. Each countries' contingent of athletes did not parade separately at the opening ceremony, but instead all athletes entered the stadium as one large mass (emphasising the theme of international unity). The size of the sporting program meant that some events were held in the cities surrounding Seattle, including: Tacoma, Spokane

Spokane

Spokane is a city in the U.S. state of Washington.Spokane may also refer to:*Spokane *Spokane River*Spokane, Missouri*Spokane Valley, Washington*Spokane County, Washington*Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Paloos War*Spokane * USS Spokane...

 and others in the Tri-Cities area

Tri-Cities, Washington

The Tri-Cities is a mid-sized metropolitan area in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Washington, consisting of three neighboring cities: Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland. The cities are located at the confluence of the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia rivers in the semi-arid region of...

. A number of venues in the region were built or renovated for the Games: Federal Way

Federal Way, Washington

Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States. Federal Way is located between Seattle and Tacoma. Its western boundary is Puget Sound. It is bordered by Des Moines on the north, Kent, unincorporated King County, and Milton on the east and Tacoma and Fife on the south...

 gained an aquatics venue (King County Aquatic Center) through the games while Seattle itself gained a new track for Husky Stadium and new flooring for the Edmundson Pavilion. The Seattle Space Needle

Space Needle

The Space Needle is a tower in Seattle, Washington and is a major landmark of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and a symbol of Seattle. Located at the Seattle Center, it was built for the 1962 World's Fair, during which time nearly 20,000 people a day used the elevators, with over...

 had a large purpose-built gold medal hung around the structure during the Games.

The competition featured a significant cultural aspect compared to the previous edition. Around 1400 Soviet athletes came to the US and stayed with host families in Seattle. Soviet cosmonauts also came to the city and visited schools, and the Moscow State Circus

Moscow State Circus

The title “Moscow State Circus” is used for a variety of circuses. Most commonly, it refers to one of the two circus buildings in Moscow, the “” and the “Bolshoi Circus” , or to traveling shows which may or may not be directly related to Russia.The Russian Circus rose to world acclaim during the...

 gave a number of performances. A Goodwill Games Arts Festival was held in conjunction with the sporting event – 1300 artists took part in the festival, which featured a performance by the Bolshoi Ballet

Bolshoi Ballet

The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies, however it only achieved worldwide acclaim by the early 20th century, when Moscow became the...

, a museum exhibition of Soviet history, and a 2 million-dollar stage production

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 of Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...

's War and Peace

War and Peace

War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...

. Similar to the 1986 Goodwill Games

1986 Goodwill Games

The 1986 Goodwill Games was the inaugural edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held from 5 – 20 July 1986. The main stadium was the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Soviet Union...

, the 1990 edition of the event was not financially successful and Ted Turner personally lost $44 million as a result.

Two world record

World record

A world record is usually the best global performance ever recorded and verified in a specific skill or sport. The book Guinness World Records collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and beyond...

s were broken during the Games: the 200-meter breaststroke

Breaststroke

The breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on his or her chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to its stability and the ability to keep the head out of the water a large portion of the time. In most swimming classes, beginners learn...

 mark was topped by all three medalists in the race, with American Mike Barrowman

Mike Barrowman

Michael Ray Barrowman is an American former swimmer, one of the pioneers of the "Wave-Style" Breaststroke technique. Prior to attending University of Michigan, he trained with Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club and Curl-Burke Swim Club in Maryland.He placed 4th in the 1988 Summer Olympics in the...

 improving the record to two minutes and 11.53 seconds. Soviet athlete Nadezhda Ryashkina

Nadezhda Ryashkina

Nadezhda Ryashkina is a retired female race walker from Russia. She set the world record in the women's 10 km race walk event on July 25, 1990, clocking 41:56.23, in Seattle at the 1990 Goodwill Games. Ryashkina equalled Liu Hongyu's world record in the 20 km event with a total time of 1:27:30,...

 completed a world record of 41:56.21 in the women's 10 km race walk.

Medal table

Key:

1		66	68	54	188
2		60	53	48	161
3		11	8	24	43
4		8	7	9	24
5		6	7	3	16
6		6	4	3	13
7		4	3	8	15
8		4	1	6	11
9		4	1	0	5
10=		3	2	2	7
10=		3	2	2	7
12		2	4	2	8
13		2	3	10	15
14		2	2	1	5
15		2	1	0	3
16=		1	1	5	7
16=		1	1	5	7
18		1	1	2	4
19		1	1	1	3
20		1	1	0	2
21=		1	0	0	1
21=		1	0	0	1
21=		1	0	0	1
21=		1	0	0	1
25		0	4	3	7
26		0	2	2	4
27		0	2	1	3
28=		0	2	0	2
28=		0	2	0	2
30		0	1	6	7
31		0	1	1	2
32		0	1	0	1
33=		0	0	1	1
33=		0	0	1	1
33=		0	0	1	1
33=		0	0	1	1
Total		192	184	202	578

Participation

A total of 54 nations were represented at the 1990 Games with a total of 2312 athletes attending the games. However, around 3500 athletes had received invitations to the games and the attendance was a marked decline from the inaugural edition.