During the holiday period, USA Wrestling was notified by the top executives at the Goodwill Games, Inc. that the Goodwill Games, one of the most popular independent multi-sport competitions in the world, had been cancelled.    The competition, which was created by Ted Turner in 1986 as a way to bring the world together through sport, had a lasting impact on the international sports community. Turner created the Goodwill Games as the first major international multi-sport event after the two boycotted Olympic Games (1980 Moscow Games and 1984 Los Angeles Games).     Although wrestling was not included in the final Goodwill Games event, held in 2001 in Brisbane, Australia, wrestling was among the most prominent sports in the first four Goodwill Games for Summer Olympic sports.    "We are very proud of the fact that the Goodwill Games have provided many athletes and fans from your sport with many great memories, record setting performances and a sense that sports can be a powerful force in uniting the world," wrote Goodwill Games President Mike Plant and Vice President of Sports David Raith.    "On behalf of everybody who has worked so hard to put on this multi-sport event over the years, we would like to express our sincerest gratitude and thanks for all of your efforts," Plant and Raith wrote.    The Goodwill Games wrestling competitions were held in Moscow, Soviet Union in 1986, Seattle, Wash. in 1990, St. Petersburg, Russia in 1994 and New York City in 1998. All four of the competitions featured the very best of international freestyle wrestling, with very strong teams from the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia, plus other top international wrestling nations.    Three of the four Goodwill Games wrestling events featured dual meet competitions, similar to the World Cup, as well as individual medal presentations. The United States won the two Goodwill Games hosted on its home soil, in 1990 in Seattle and in 1998 in New York. The Soviet Union won the first Goodwill Games team title in Moscow in 1986.    In 1994, host Russia decided to change the format for the competition to an individual tournament, and both Russia and the United States entered full teams. The other participants were selected by weight class, as an international all-star invitational. Russia dominated the medal count at the tournament, with the United States with the second-best effort.    Many of the top highlights of international freestyle wrestling in the late 20th Century came at the Goodwill Games competition.    The 1986 Goodwill Games featured the arrival of the most successful U.S. freestyle wrestler of all time, John Smith of the Sunkist Kids. Smith, who was still an underclassmen in college, claimed the gold medal at 136.5 pounds, defeating Russia's World Champion Victor Alexeev in the gold medal finals. A year later, Smith claimed his first World title, starting a six-year streak of World and Olympic gold medals at his weight class.    The other two prominent U.S. stars at the Moscow Games were Olympic champions Dave Schultz at 163 pounds and Bruce Baumgartner at 286 pounds. They also claimed gold medals for the USA at the event. Schultz and his wife Nancy, brought their young son Alexander to the competition, who delighted his Soviet guests as well as the international media. Schultz was also a prominent personality on the television coverage of the event, which provided substantial exposure for the sport worldwide.    The U.S. team, coached by Dan Gable, placed third in the standings, dropping duals to the Soviet Union and Bulgaria. An interesting note came when Tom Press, a Greco-Roman specialist who was at the event as a supporter and photographer, was pulled out of the stands to compete on the U.S. team when an athlete was needed as an injury replacement.     The 1990 Seattle Goodwill Games was a major event in U.S. wrestling history. The United States defeated Russia in the gold-medal finals of the competition before a sold-out crowd at the Hec Edmondson Arena at the Univ. of Washington. It was the first-time that the USA had defeated the Soviet Union in wrestling at a major multi-sport competition. The Seattle Times named the wrestling competition the No. 1 story of the entire Goodwill Games.    Much of the credit goes to the local volunteers in Washington that worked hard to organize and promote the event, packing the gym in what was, at the time, the largest crowd to ever see a freestyle wrestling match in United States. The local leaders, led by the late Mike Hess and many, many USA Wrestling volunteers, provided a tremendous showcase for the sport, with an electric atmosphere for the gold-medal finals.    The final dual meet against the Soviet Union was a classic, with great competition and emotion. The U.S. opened with four straight wins, as Cory Baze, Zeke Jones, Joe Melchiore and John Smith reeled off wins with the support of 7,000 crazed fans. The wins by Baze and Melchiore were not expected, and were key to the victory.  Smith won a rugged rematch with his 1988 Olympic finals opponent Stepan Sarkissian. Russia rallied with two straight wins, then a double disqualification draw at 180.5 pounds. Russia still had a chance after a win by superstar Makharbek Khadartsev. When an injured and hobbling Bill Scherr scored the winning takedown in the final seconds against Alexei Golovko to clinch the team win, the arena expoded  and the USA celebrated its long-awaited triumph over its archrival.    It is hard to ever forget the public display by emotional Russian head coach Ivan Yarygin, who held up the match to protest a referee's call, climbing into the stands and berating FILA President Milan Ercegan with angry yells.  Another memory was the upset win by Canadian Chris Wilson over superstar Arsen Fadzaev of the Soviet Union, and Wilson's joyous celebration.     U.S. individual champions were Baze, Smith, Nate Carr and Bill Scherr (although FILA at the last minute changed the rules on the medal awards and a second set of medals were recognized at some of the weight classes). Smith's victory was significant historically, as he became the only American to win two Goodwill Games wrestling golds.    The 1994 Goodwill Games were at the massive SKK (Lennin Sports and Concert Complex) in St. Petersburg, with the wrestling competition on one side of the divided arena. This huge and ancient facility had the dusky smell of history. The crowds, that were sparse at some of the venues, came out in respectable numbers for the "borba," (Russian word for wrestling), which a popular sport in the nation.    The U.S. won a pair of individual gold medals, as Zeke Jones and Townsend Saunders wrestled with great skill and passion to claim their weight classes. For Saunders, it was his best  wrestling international performance to date, with a victory over a tough Russian, Vadeem Bogiev. Saunders came from behind, tieing the match at 5-5 with 30 seconds to go, then winning with a takedown on the buzzer. The two would meet again two years later in the gold-medal finals of the Atlanta Olympic Games, with Bogiev winning this time around.    A number of top U.S. stars dropped tough matches, including legends such as Dave Schultz, Kevin Jackson, Bruce Baumgartner and Melvin Douglas. The Russian team was well-prepared and seemed to take advantage of its familiar surroundings. The most compelling feature of the event was the city itself, an intriguing mix of spectacular art and culture going back through the ages with the realities of the new Russia with its many economic and political problems.    The final Goodwill Games featuring wrestling was held in the world-famous Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The facility, which has hosted numerous major boxing events in the past, was perfect for wrestling. The wrestling competition was a near-sellout, as wrestling sold the highest percentage of tickets of any of the sports in the entire Goodwill Games.    The atmosphere at the tournament was special, a multi-cultural mix of fans from many ethnic backgrounds, all who shared a passion for wrestling. Iran, which has one of the most vocal fan followings among wrestli