Exclusive Figure Skating Ticket Offer from the Goodwill Games

In a gesture of goodwill, Games officials announced today a special ticket offer for the final two days of the figure skating competition at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.   Tickets for the upper-level seats of the Coliseum are now available for $5, adults and children, and must be purchased at the Nassau Coliseum box office.  Saturday, August 1 will feature the finals of the Ice Dance (long program) and the ladies singles (long program).  Sunday's session will feature an exhibition of Games' medalists.

"As we head into the final days of competition, we want to make sure that everyone has had a chance to be a part of the Goodwill Games," said Goodwill Games president Mike Plant.  "This is an amazing opportunity for people in the New York area to see figure skating legends like Michelle Kwan perform on American soil."

After skating a phenomenal short program on Thursday, two-time World Champion Michelle Kwan of the United States heads into Saturday's competition in first place.  Maria Butyrskaya and Victoria Volchkova, both from Russia, follow in second and third place, respectively.

The short program of the Ice Dance competition took place on Thursday, July 30.  1998 World Champions Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov of Russia lead as the dancers head into Saturday's competition.  Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh, also from Russia, are currently in second place and Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of the Ukraine are in third.

Sunday's exhibition will feature the best of the Goodwill Games figure skating competition.  Medalists in each of the disciplines – Ice dance, Pairs, Men's and Women's singles – will conclude the Games with a dazzling performance.

The Goodwill Games are offering skaters a prize purse worth more than $800,000.  The prize structure for the ladies competition is as follows: 1st place - $75,000; 2nd place - $50,000; 3rd place - $30,000; 4th place - $20,000; and 5th – 9th place - $10,000.  Prize money for dance teams is the same as above, except money is awarded to five dance teams.

The presenting sponsor for figure skating is MCI.   Relationships with sponsors like MCI have been key to delivering world-class athletes to the Goodwill Games competition.

The 1998 Goodwill Games began on July 19 and feature competition in fifteen sports.  The Games will conclude on Sunday, August 2.  The 1998 Games have featured 1,500 international athletes competing in 15 sports for a prize purse of $5 million in world record/performance incentives, the largest prize purse in multi-sport event history.  TBS Superstation is the Games host network.  CBS has provided 10 hours of weekend, afternoon coverage and boxing has appeared on HBO as part of their Boxing After Dark series.  The 1998 Games mark the first time a sporting event has appeared on all three levels of television distribution.  Turner Sports is the host broadcaster and has coordinated all aspects of the production.

CONTACT: Michael Lewellen, 212/457-2183