All you really need to know about the 2001 Goodwill Games is captured by a lyric sung by four Irish sibling superstars, The Corrs. They own numerous globally popular hits, including The Right Time, which offers up a concise but profound reminder:
"This is the right time, once in a lifetime."

Which is to say, in the context of the fifth Goodwill Games, what's not to like about a gathering of some of the most inspiring athletes on the planet in a nation that may have invented the "how-to" of throwing an extended party? The tone will be set August 28, with an opening gala headlined by none other than The Corrs. There's no Corrs "light" on tap. They've already assembled a lifetime of intoxicating music in only a few short years.

August and September 2001 is certainly the right time to be a world-class competitor, poised to deliver some once-in-a-lifetime performances at the latest stop on the new millennium Australia tour, Brisbane (BRIZ-ben).

When last seen in the vortex of a multi-sport drama, many of the Goodwill Games expected stars were down the coastline, a short flight away in Sydney. They can't wait to get back down under, and who can blame them? It's obviously an extraordinary country. And, in the 11 months since the 2000 Olympic Games, they've managed to keep their profiles as high as their expectations, and their agents and investment counselors very busy as well.

Australian swimmer and poster stud Ian Thorpe as recently as July blistered the record books at the World Swimming Championships in Japan. He'll share the aquatics spotlight with fellow favorites Pieter van den Hoogenband, Inge de Bruijn and Tom Malchow, among others.

American sprinters Maurice Green and Marion Jones have just departed the 8th IAAF World Championships in Edmonton with a few more medals added to their personal collections. Jones' performance in the 100 meters at the Goodwill Games will be doubly scrutinized after a rare non-victory in the 100 at Edmonton. More than 70 Sydney medallists from 27 nations are anticipated among the competitors in athletics.

Laura Wilkinson, the fairytale American diver, is Brisbane-bound, too, seeking an international trifecta. She was the 10-meter platform gold medallist at the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York, and the Olympic champion 26 months later in Sydney.

Because the Goodwill Games continue a tradition of showcasing the so-called winter sport of figure skating, plan on observing the mastery of reigning world champion Michelle Kwan, at 21 a Goodwill "old timer" who competed in 1994 and 1998 (Kwan won the ladies title in New York). In Brisbane, Kwan, who has a new choreographer, is expected to show the world the freshly minted freestyle program she developed for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, now just seven months down the road.

Kwan won't be in casual tune-up mode in Australia, however, as formidable Russian rivals Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya are coming down to lace them up along with her.

The here and now also happens to be the right time for some of the National Basketball Association's youngest, most talented and attractively compensated players. For Brisbane will mark the first time in the history of the Goodwill Games that basketball's Team USA has a roster made up almost entirely of NBA athletes. Three of the expected members were partly responsible for a Team USA gold medal at the Goodwill Games three years ago. Then-collegians Andre Miller, Calvin Booth and Wally Szcerbiak helped the Americans defeat Team Australia for the title in Madison Square Garden.

Under the current selection formula, USA Basketball was allowed to select players drafted into the NBA in 1999, 2000 or 2001 who were not older than 22. In addition to the aforementioned, some of the other recent post-adolescents competing for Team USA are Rookie of the Year Mike Miller (Orlando Magic) and All-NBA Rookie team honorees Marc Jackson (Golden State Warriors) and Kenyon Martin (New Jersey Nets). The 12th name on the roster will be collegiate Player of the Year Shane Battier of Duke.

Team USA's mission is to defend the 1998 Goodwill title in a field that includes Australia, Argentina, Brazil and Canada.

Those countries are undoubtedly also on the list of places where athletics icon Michael Johnson has crossed a finish line first, or has multitudes of fans, or both.

Johnson has chosen Brisbane and the Goodwill Games 4x400 relay competition to close the book on a career that set a standard for those who dare to chase his legacy. The world record holder in the 200m, 400m and 4x400 relay (1998 Goodwill Games) runs that final, final 4x400 leg Sept. 7, and it will be broadcast live on Turner Network Television and the Nine Network in Australia.

"I have competed in three Goodwill Games, and each holds a significant memory for me, so it makes sense to end my career (in Brisbane),'' Johnson said recently.

More than 450 premier track and field athletes are competing Sept. 4-7 for record prize money and, as in all Goodwill Games sports, in finals-only events.

The "right" time (as in world-record) pays a bonus of $100,000 USD, but the incentives do not end there. A 2001 world-best is rewarded with $7,500, any national record earns $5,000, and, for a Goodwill Games record, a $2,000 bonus awaits.

Thirteen other sports join with athletics Aug. 29-Sept. 9 to comprise the 2001 competition program in Queensland's capital city of 1.33 million, the first Goodwill Games host not located in Russia or the United States since the event debuted in Moscow in 1986. In addition to athletics, basketball, skating and swimming, the Games' more than 1,300 athletes are competing for prize money in beach volleyball, boxing, track cycling, diving, gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, surf lifesaving, trampoline, triathlon and weightlifting.

Prize purses are substantial, exceeding $5.1 million across the board. The world's elite gymnasts, including 12-time Olympic medalist Alexsei Nemov, are going after a total purse of $286,000. Beach volleyball's purse is $300,000.

There is a prize on the horizon for Goodwill Games spectators and those who tune in for the 13 days of TNT broadcasts - Brisbane. A compact city on a river, a cultural mecca and a gateway to some of Australia's jewels, Brisbane is the largest metropolitan area in close proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. It is among the world's wonders, as are the athletes heading to Brisbane for the Goodwill Games.

The time is right. The time is drawing near.

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