Goodwill Games

04/09/2001

Goodwill Games Swimming Prize Purse Totals More Than $500,000
Swimmers to Compete in Unique Team Championship Format

The swimming prize purse for this year's Goodwill Games totals $508,000 (USD), it was announced today by Games officials. Ninety-two men and 92 women will compete in a total of 38 events for the winnings at this year's Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia. The six-day competition will be Wednesday, Aug. 29, through Monday, Sept. 3, and will air in the United States on Turner Network Television. Swimmers will compete in this exciting competition that will match teams from around the globe in a unique team championship format at the Chandler Aquatic Center. The unique format will highlight the intense patriotic rivalries, while featuring outstanding individual performances as swimmer's race against the clock.

The competition format consists of four men's and four women's national teams, with 23 athletes per team. Each men's and women's team competes in a round-robin, dual-meet format for a total of three dual meets per team. First and second-place teams advance to the gold medal finals, while the third and fourth place teams advance to the bronze medal final. Each team is allowed two entries in individual events and one entry in relay events. The teams competing in the event are the United States, Australia, the European All-Stars and the World All-stars

The team prize money is $200,000 (USD) for each men's and women's team events. The first-place team will receive $100,000 (USD), the second-place team will receive $50,000 (USD), the third-place team will receive $30,000 (USD) and the fourth-place team will receive $20,000 (USD). The remaining $108,000 (USD) of the prize purse will be divided by the 36 individual or relay event winners, with $3,000 (USD) going to the athlete or relay team with the fastest time per event by the end of the round-robin competition. Bonuses will also be given out for various world records, national records and Goodwill Games records set. For a world record set a bonus of $50,000 (USD) will be given. Any second, third, fourth and fifth all-time world bests will garner bonuses of $5,000 (USD), $4,000 (USD), $3,000 (USD) and $2,000 (USD) respectively. For a national record set a bonus of $2,000 (USD) will be given and for a Goodwill Games record set a $1,000 (USD) will be awarded.

"Swimming, in this unique team championship format, will prove to be one of the highlights of the 2001 Goodwill Games," said Michael Plant, president of Goodwill Games, Inc. "We look forward to a competition full of great match-ups, exhilarating performances and a spectacular opening night that will feature Team USA versus Team Australia in men's swimming."

The competition will consist of 38 events: 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, 4x100 freestyle relay, 4x100 medley relay, the team competition and the 1500m freestyle in the men's competition and the 800m freestyle in the women's competition.

The 2001 Goodwill Games, hosted by Brisbane, Australia, will take place Aug. 29-Sept. 9 and will feature 14 sports during 12 days of competition. The Goodwill Games will host, along with swimmers, an elite field of competitors in athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, cycling (track), figure skating, gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, surf lifesaving, swimming, trampoline, triathlon and weightlifting.

Contacts:

Jeff Pomeroy Goodwill Games 404-827-4786

Janet England Goodwill Games Brisbane 617-3233-2088

Mary Wagner USA Swimming 719-578-4500 ext. 3567

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