Island Games

The Island Games (currently known as the NatWest Island Games for sponsorship reasons) are an international multi-sports event organized by the International Island Games Association. The most recent games were held in Jersey (except the gymnastics, which were held on a different island^[1]) from 27 June to 3 July 2015, with around 3000 competitors from 24 competing islands or island groups competing in 14 sports.

History

The Island Games began in 1985 as the Inter-Island Games, as part of the Isle of Man International Year of Sport, and were intended to be a one-off sporting celebration only. Geoffrey Corlett, who became the first Games Director, not only contacted the islands surrounding the United Kingdom, but also encouraged the countries of Iceland and Malta, the territories of Faroe Islands, Greenland, Saint Helena, the Channel Islands and others to participate. Initially, fifteen islands with 600 competitors and officials took part in seven sports,^[2] with the total cost of staging the Games being put at £70,000. The track and field events were held on an eight-lane grass track, a far cry from the current games, which now use synthetic tracks in stadiums capable of holding thousands of spectators. The Games of 1985 were so successful that organizers decided to hold a similar event two years later.^[3]

Game venues

Faroese stamp to the 1989 Island Games: Rowing

Football

Year	Games	Host Island	Participating Islands	Athletes	Sports
1985	I	Isle of Man	15	700	7
1987	II	Guernsey	18	1,049	9
1989	III	Faroe Islands	15	800	11
1991	IV	Åland	17	1,700	13
1993	V	Isle of Wight	19	1,448	14
1995	VI	Gibraltar	18	1,214	14
1997	VII	Jersey	20	~2,000	14
1999	VIII	Gotland	22	1,858	14
2001	IX	Isle of Man	22	2,020	15
2003	X	Guernsey	23	2,129	15
2005	XI	Shetland	24	~2,400	14
2007	XII	Rhodes	25	~3,000	14
2009	XIII	Åland	24	~3,300	14
2011	XIV	Isle of Wight	24	2,306	14
2013	XV	Bermuda	22	1,127	14
2015	XVI	Jersey	24	~3,000	14
2017	XVII	Gotland	≈ 24	≈ 3,000	14[4]
2019	XVIII	Gibraltar [5][6]		≈ 3,000	12[7]
2021	XIX	Unknown[8]

Guernsey has put in a bid for the 2021 games following the Faroe Islands withdrawal from hosting.^[9] There are no other bidders.

Orkney have indicated that they are willing to play host for the 2023 games.^[10]

Ynys Môn are contemplating a bid for the 2025 games.^[11]

Participation

A total of twenty-seven islands have participated in the Island Games, of which eleven islands have participated in every Island Games.

Island Games participants and total medals won

Island	Country	Population	Years	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Åland	Finnish autonomous province	28,666	1985-	157	172	155	484
Alderney	British crown dependency	1,900	1987, 1993-	0	2	3	5
Bermuda	British overseas territory	64,200	2003-	88	80	99	267
Cayman Islands	British overseas territory	56,700	1999-	99	73	65	237
Falkland Islands	British overseas territory	2,900	1993-	1	7	11	19
Faroe Islands	autonomous country of the Kingdom of Denmark	49,700	1985-	243	187	194	624
Frøya	Norway municipality island of Norway	4,300	1985-	1	1	2	4
Gibraltar	British overseas territory	30,000	1987-	53	58	88	199
Gotland	Swedish county	57,200	1985-	243	187	194	624
Greenland	autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark	56,000	1989-	17	21	27	63
Guernsey	British crown dependency	65,800	1985-	382	392	429	1,203
Hitra	Norway Municipality island of Norway	4,250	1985-1989, 1997-	3	5	5	13
Iceland	Iceland	329,000	1985-1997	50	45	41	136
Isle of Man	British crown dependency	84,500	1985-	413	396	407	1,216
Isle of Wight	English county	138,400	1985-	160	154	190	504
Jersey	British crown dependency	100,000	1985-	491	491	444	1,426
Malta	Malta	445,000	1985-1987	6	2	2	10
Menorca	Spanish island	94,400	2007-	36	34	46	116
Orkney Islands	Scottish council area	21,300	1985-	20	37	41	98
Prince Edward Island	Province of Canada	140,000	1991-2007	6	6	9	21
Rhodes	Greek island	115,500	1999-2011, 2015-	51	44	43	138
Saaremaa	Estonian island	31,000	1991-	77	86	77	238
Saint Helena	British overseas territory	4,250	1985-1987, 1997-	1	2	3	6
Sark	British crown dependency	600	1987-2011, 2015-	3	9	8	20
Shetland Islands	Scottish council area	23,200	1985-	48	68	93	209
Western Isles	Scottish council area	27,400	2005-	17	13	22	49
Ynys Môn	council area of Wales	69,700	1985-	27	33	46	106

Islands marked in grey are no longer members of the Island Games.

Sports

The host country chooses between 12 and 14 different sports for their games from this list, which also indicates the number of times each sport has been chosen:

Island		Games		Sports
Archery	14	Football	14	Squash	3
Athletics	16	Golf	12	Swimming	16
Badminton	15	Gymnastics	10	Table Tennis	14
Basketball	8	Judo	6	Tennis	12
Bowls (Indoor, Outdoor, or Ten Pin)	3	Sailing (may include Sailboarding/Windsurfing)	11	Triathlon	5
Cycling	15	Shooting	16	Volleyball (may include Beach Volleyball)	16

Footnotes

1. "NatWest Island Games XVI - Jersey 2015". Jersey2015.com - Island Games. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
2. "Inaugural Inter-Island Games - Isle of Man 1985". iiga.org.
3. "The Games". Jersey2015.com. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
4. "2017 sports".
5. James Law. "BBC Sport - Island Games: Menorca pull out of hosting 2019 event". BBC Sport.
6. "BBC Sport - Island Games: Gibraltar bid to host 2019 competition". BBC Sport.
7. "2019 Island Games: Gibraltar axes football, cycling and volleyball".
8. "Tí vil ÍSF ikki átaka sær Oyggjaleikir". {$opengraph.site_name.}
9. "Island Games: Guernsey to bid to host 2021 event". 4 August 2015.
10. "Orkney Willing to Host the Games!". 9 Dec 2013.
11. "Anglesey's 2025 Island Games bid 'getting serious'". 7 July 2015.

External links

• International Island Games Association
• Previous Results in Island Games