As they have for the past two weeks, thousands of Queenslanders joined visitors from around the world along the south bank of the Brisbane River Sunday afternoon, this time both for a celebration and an extended farewell.

With the sun setting on a crystal blue spring day and on the 2001 Goodwill Games, Brisbane and its 3,700 Games volunteers, plus a global television audience, came together to witness the closing of a 12-day international festival of sport, music and culture. There was live music, lasers, lights and eight tons of fireworks bursting above the modern skyline.

The fifth edition of the Goodwill Games solidified the status of many of the world’s premier athletes, opened a window to a generation of future stars and introduced the planet to Brisbane as a friendly gateway to the best of Australia. You need not have entered one competition venue these past two weeks to experience these Games. They were as much a showcase for some of this nation’s brightest musical stars and ordinary citizens as for retiring track legend Michael Johnson, Aussie swimming heroes Ian Thorpe and Petria Thomas, or a dominant generation of Russian figure skaters.

On a day when Australia secured first place in the medals race, earning a total of 75, to edge Russia (73) and the United States (72), Queensland Premier Peter Beattie was beaming about the potential long term dividends Brisbane can expect through its successful hosting of the Goodwill Games.

“Brisbane and Queensland, in it’s history, have never, ever had this kind of exposure around the world,” Beattie said. “The people of Queensland embraced the event, we got the international exposure we wanted. We couldn’t ask for more.”

Goodwill Games, Inc., President Mike Plant was succinct: “Operationally, as well as in terms of ticket sales … the 2001 Goodwill Games are the most successful to date.”

The Games 1,300 athletes, contesting 14 sports and battling for $5 million in prize and bonus money, did their parts to live up to the marketing slogan, “The gods of sport in your own backyard”. In their wakes, they leave thousands of memorable images and five world records – four in weightlifting, one in track -- each worth $100,000.

As competition reached an end Sunday in boxing, diving and basketball, with the USA routing Argentina 91-63 for the basketball gold, organizers were projecting total ticket sales in excess of 260,000 for the 12 days -- 80% of the inventory.

Including the 80,000 who lined the course for men’s and women’s triathlon a week ago, organizers estimate more than 300,000 people populated the city’s South Bank Parklands during the Games. South Bank was the site of free, nightly concerts from a floating river stage, and the home of TNT Goodwill Games studio host Ernie Johnson Jr., who guided viewers through the network’s 83 hours of programming, 55 of those live.

A parade of great athletic performances here only adds to a highlight reel 15 years in the making, dating to the summer of 1986 when Ted Turner founded the Goodwill Games to keep nations focused on the upside of sport. The lasting images are these … Marion Jones reclaiming her supremacy in the 100 on the track; America’s Stacy Dragila, world champion and Goodwill gold medallist, and Australia’s Tatiana Grigorieva bringing competitive tension and a touch of glamour to the pole vault; Eric “The Body” Fonoimoana delivering celebrity appeal to the beach volleyball venue; Aussie triathlete Loretta Harrop running into her dad’s arms on Fathers’ Day in Australia after she crossed the finish, a winner in her hometown; Johnson, the world record holder, pacing himself into the final turn before pulling away to secure the USA’s 4x400 relay triumph, and closing the book on a dynamic career, launched 11 years ago at the Seattle Goodwill Games; diminutive Romanian gymnast Sabina Cojocar upstaging the flashy Russian, Svetlana Khorkina, for the all-around title; and Russia’s Irina Slutskaya and the USA’s Michelle Kwan setting the stage for a figure skating rivalry that may extend to the 2002 Winter Olympics final.

But for every classic moment on the field of play, there is an equally lingering Brisbane memory of a perfect afternoon on the river … of a lady in clown makeup, selling balloons … of a kid taking that first bite of an Aussie meat pie, mustard flying in every direction … of a squeaky clean Brisbane taxi and its uniformed driver, chatting away about rugby … of the Australian Gold Coast and its endless beaches … of a $3 glass of Australian Chardonnay rivaling any competitor in the world … of an Aboriginal dance troupe drawing a crowd and keeping it transfixed … of volunteers who smiled as widely at midnight as they had at 8 a.m.

G’day, mates, and good on ya.