Arctic Winter Games

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

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.

Alaska, USA
Greenland
Northern Alberta, Canada
Northwest Territories, Canada (Host Contingent)
Nunavik, Quebec, Canada
Nunavut, Canada
Sami people
Yamalo-Nenets, Russia
Yukon, Canada

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