The 2016 Arctic World Games are underway from March 6th -11th, 2016 in Nuuk, Greenland. The small city sits on a fjord and the average high temperatures are running at -5 Celsius for the 1,600 athletes from nine regions in the North. Teams represent Canada’s Northwest Territories and Yukon, Nunavut, Alaska, Greenland, Russia’s Yamal in Siberia, and Finland’s Sápmi (Lapland). The small airport couldn’t get all the athletes into Nuuk on schedule, especially with weather problems, but Greenlandic song and dance was featured at the opening ceremony.
“The Arctic countries don’t really have a chance when you go down south for tournaments,” said Nyree Hacala of Yellowknife, who’ll play volleyball for Team N.W.T. (Kawaja, 2016).
The sports include the best of the North: Alpine skiing, Biathlon, Snowshoe, Cross Country skiing, Hockey, Snowboarding, Table Tennis, Volleyball, and Wrestling. In addition, Inuit games include ‘one-foot high kick’ and ‘arm pull’ among others. Dene games will also be played: finger pull, snowsnake, stick pull, hand games and pole push. Last, an indoor form of soccer called Futsal featuring five players-per-side will be played at this Arctic World Games.
The Arctic World Games were founded in 1970 and are held every two years.
The Games can be followed at @awg2016 and http://www.awg2016.org/en this week.
Kawaja C. (2016, March). Athletes arrive for Arctic Winter Games opening ceremonies. CBC Sports. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/awg2016-opening-1.3478853
Dr. Robert Hudson is the Library Director and Archivist at the United States Sports Academy. He can be reached at rhudson@ussa.edu.