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 Indigenous culture.

Background [ edit ]

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 [ edit ]

Games include:[1]

Participants [ edit ]

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 [ edit ]

Host cities have mostly been in Canada and the United States.[3]

Hodgson Trophy [ edit ]

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]

Winner Year Alaska 1978 Yukon 1980–1988 Alaska 1990 Northwest Territories 1992 Greenland 1994 Northwest Territories 1996 Yukon 1998 Nunavut 2000 Greenland 2002 Nunavut 2004 Alaska 2006 Nunavut 2008 Alaska 2010 Nunavut 2012 Greenland 2014 Alaska 2016–2018

Arctic Winter Games International Committee [ edit ]

Arctic Winter Games alumni [ edit ]

See also [ edit ]

World Eskimo Indian Olympics

Nalukataq - traditional blanket toss celebrations