Cram: Games just a pay-day

BBC Sport's Steve Cram looks at the Goodwill Games and says: Don't believe the hype.

So, right at the end of the season, we get this strange competition down in Australia. I, for one, won't be taking much notice.

Why? It's simple. As far as I'm concerned, it's a pay-day for the athletes.

In the great scheme of things, the Goodwill Games have absolutely no importance.

Athletes are there simply to earn a few more dollars to boost their bank accounts.

Dwain Chambers celebrates 100m gold

It's pretty much only the Americans who go big on it. In most countries around the world there isn't any television coverage.

It's been such a long year for the top athletes already.

They've been pulled all over the world, from Europe for the Golden League meetings to Canada for the World Championships and now down to Australia for the Goodwill Games and the Grand Prix final.

Personally, I never took part in the Goodwill Games. Time-wise I could have done, because they were first held in 1986.

But in those days it was simply a USA v Russia contest, a result of the boycotts of the 1980 and 1984 Olympics and something of a vanity project for Ted Turner.

You can see from the standards that the athletes are achieving just how tired they are.

The odd competitor might do alright, but for most of them it's a competition too far.

Take the men's triple jump as an example. Yes, Jonathan Edwards won and was pleased to do so.

But he could have won that contest on one leg. He only needed to jump 17.26m to take the gold, which is so far down on his personal best that it doesn't bear comparison.

Jan Zelezny adds to his long list of titles

It's the same for Dwain Chambers in the 100m.

Dwain will be delighted to have won, and delighted with the size of his cash prize.

But how often do you see Tim Montgomery running 10.20secs-plus? It takes the edge off the contest when the times are like that.

I'm not blaming the athletes. If someone offers you that sort of money to compete, you're going to do it.

And to expect great times when you're as tired as these guys simply isn't fair.

But as a spectacle it's not the best.

It's meant to be Michael Johnson's final race, although that man seems to have had more final performances than Elvis and Frank Sinatra put together.

I'd like to see him run a competitive race before he retires to join me in the commentary box.

Berlin showed that he's in the sort of shape to take on the world's best. So why not give us all a treat?