Arctic Winter Games
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The Arctic Winter Games is an international biannual celebration of circumpolar sports and culture.
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[edit] Background
The Arctic Winter Games were founded in 1969 under the leadership of Governor Walter J. Hickel of Alaska, Stuart M. Hodgson, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, and Yukon Commissioner James Smith. The idea to "provide a forum where athletes from the circumpolar North could compete on their own terms, on their own turf" came from Cal Miller, an advisor with the Yukon team at the 1967 Canada Winter Games.
In 1970 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, 500 athletes, trainers and officials came together for the first Arctic Winter Games. The participants came from Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska. Since then, the Games have been held on fifteen occasions in different places and with ever more participants from more and more places within the Arctic region. The games in 2002 were the first jointly hosted Arctic Winter Games, by Nuuk, Greenland and Iqaluit, Nunavut.
[edit] Participants in 2008
A total of nine contingents participated in the 2008 Arctic Winter Games held in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The same group of teams also made up the contingency of the previous games in 2006.[1]
Alaska, USA
Greenland
Northern Alberta, Canada
Northwest Territories, Canada (Host Contingent)
Nunavik, Quebec, Canada
Nunavut, Canada
Sami people
Yamalo-Nenets, Russia
Yukon, Canada
[edit] Host cities
- 1970 - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
- 1972 - Whitehorse, Yukon
- 1974 - Anchorage, Alaska
- 1976 - Schefferville, Quebec
- 1978 - Hay River/Pine Point, Northwest Territories
- 1980 - Whitehorse, Yukon
- 1982 - Fairbanks, Alaska
- 1984 - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
- 1986 - Whitehorse, Yukon
- 1988 - Fairbanks, Alaska
- 1990 - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
- 1992 - Whitehorse, Yukon
- 1994 - Slave Lake, Alberta
- 1996 - Chugiak/Eagle River, Alaska
- 1998 - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
- 2000 - Whitehorse, Yukon
- 2002 - Nuuk, Greenland/Iqaluit, Nunavut
- 2004 - Wood Buffalo, Alberta
- 2006 - Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska
- 2008 - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
- 2010 - Grande Prairie, Alberta
[edit] Arctic Winter Games International Committee
- Gerry Thick, President
- Wendell Shiffler, Vice President
- Lloyd Bentz, Secretary
- Ian Legaree Technical Director
- Jens Brinch
- Sharon Clarkson
- Marilyn Neily
- John Rodda
- Don Sian
- Karen Thomson
[edit] Arctic Winter Games alumni
- The Governor General of Canada, Michaëlle Jean, presented Aisa Pirti, a 19-year-old Inuk from Akulivik, Nunavik, with the National Aboriginal Role Model Award during a ceremony at Rideau Hall. Aisa has received 30 medals and five trophies for Inuit games in regional and circumpolar competitions, such as the Arctic Winter Games and the Eastern Arctic Summer Games.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Arctic Winter Games International Committee (2006). Medal standings. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
