Arctic Winter Games

Arctic Winter Games
Arctic Winter Games Logo
First event 1970 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada
Occur every 2 years
Purpose Sports for the Arctic
President Gerry Thick
Website ArcticWinterGames.org
An athlete performing a two-foot high kick at the 2008 Arctic Winter Games

The Arctic Winter Games is an international biennial celebration of circumpolar sports and Aboriginal culture.

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, Canada, 500 athletes, trainers and officials came together for the first Arctic Winter Games. The participants came from the 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.

Sports disciplines

Games include:[1]

Participants

A total of nine contingents participated in the Arctic Winter Games. The same group of teams also made up the participants of the previous games [2]

Host cities

Host cities have mostly been in Canada and the United States.

YearHost CityCountry
1970Yellowknife Canada
1972Whitehorse
1974Anchorage United States
1976Schefferville Canada
1978Hay River/Pine Point
1980Whitehorse
1982Fairbanks United States
1984Yellowknife Canada
1986Whitehorse
1988Fairbanks United States
1990Yellowknife Canada
1992Whitehorse
1994Slave Lake
1996Chugiak/ Anchorage United States
1998Yellowknife Canada
2000Whitehorse
2002Nuuk Greenland
Iqaluit Canada
2004Wood Buffalo
2006Kenai Peninsula Borough United States
2008Yellowknife Canada
2010Grande Prairie
2012Whitehorse
2014Fairbanks United States
2016Nuuk Greenland[3]
2018Hay River/Fort Smith Canada[4]

Hodgson Trophy

The Hodgson trophy for fair play and team spirit is awarded at the end of every games. The trophy is named for Stuart Milton Hodgson, former Commissioner of the Northwest Territories.[5]

The past winners of the trophy are:[5]

WinnerYear
 Alaska1978
 Yukon1980-1988
 Alaska1990
 Northwest Territories1992
 Greenland1994
 Northwest Territories1996
 Yukon1998
 Nunavut2000
 Greenland2002
 Nunavut2004
 Alaska2006
 Nunavut2008
 Alaska2010
 Nunavut2012
 Greenland2014
 Alaska2016
 Alberta2018

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

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.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "2000 Arctic Winter Games Results", ArcticWinterGames.org.
  2. ↑ Arctic Winter Games International Committee (2006). "Medal standings". Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
  3. ↑ "Arctic Winter Games 2016 – Grønland". Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq (in Danish). 3 March 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  4. ↑ "Hay River, Fort Smith to jointly host 2018 Arctic Winter Games". CBC. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 "The Hodgson Trophy", ArcticWinterGames.org.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.