Island Games: Get to know ... Greenland
IF GREENLAND’S small population were distributed evenly throughout its vast landscape, there would be an area the size of the Bailiwick of Guernsey for every two people.
But most of them would find it rather difficult to get a round of golf into their week.
‘Greenland is Greenland,’ said the Greenland Island Games Association’s head of development Poul Petersen. ‘It’s ice and snow and it’s difficult to get better at golf.’
Nevertheless, the island will send a golf team to these games, albeit in hope rather than expectation.
Their much greater opportunities will be in football – in which their men won silver when the sport was last included at Gotland 2017 – and in swimming.
‘Football, obviously, is popular and we have athletics as well, but more and more it’s swimming,’ Poul said.
‘We are very hopeful for our swimmers to do well, as they have competed well in competitions in Iceland, Denmark and the Faroes.’
Poul left us in no doubt about the importance of the Island Games to Greenlandic people, saying that ‘for our athletes, they are the biggest event ever’.
Yet the International Island Games Association is not the only games organisation Greenland has joined.
The island also took part in the Arctic Winter Games earlier this year, finishing fifth in the medal table behind Yukon, Alaska, Northwest Territories and Alberta North.
These games combine sports that are on the IIGA roster, such as archery, badminton, basketball, gymnastics, table tennis and volleyball, but also games developed within Inuit culture, such as the snowsnake – similar to javelin but along a set route – and the finger pull, developed as a way of strengthening the fingers for carrying fish by the gills.
The Island Games offers a chance for many islanders around the world to compete with other islands but in the case of Greenland, it’s actually a rare chance for islanders to compete against each other.
Greenland’s population may be concentrated on its west coast but the distance between Narnotalik in the south and Qaanaaq in the north is 2,116km – further than Guernsey to Marrakesh.
‘Greenland is a huge country so it’s not that possible to go from city to city,’ said Poul. ‘We have to fly. So we do it one time a year in the summer and it requires a great deal of work and planning.’
This year’s flag bearer for Greenland will be one of the 31 members of its parliament, the Naalakkersuisut – a body which has its laws ratified by the Queen of Denmark but is quite separate from the Danish Folketing, though the island also has two MPs in that national parliament.
They might be forgiven for having other things on their mind as they wave their red and white flag, given the issues currently being dealt with back home.
‘It’s the Arctic but we feel that the global warming is getting closer and closer to us, so it has a big focus and influence in our daily life,’ Poul said.
‘This dominates the news agenda, along with security. China and Russia and the US are very interested in Greenland because of our geopolitical position.’
The island continues to receive a substantial grant from Denmark each year but this is being allowed to reduce, as Greenland begins to develop income from its natural resources.
For the time being, fishing is the mainstay of the economy, though ‘there is tourism more and more’.
Having visited Guernsey last year, Poul can’t wait to come back.
‘Right now we really miss the summer,’ he told us. ‘We really do look forward to coming to Guernsey.’
About Greenland
Area: 2,166,086 sq. km (836,330 sq. miles)
Population: 56,583 (2022 estimate)
Population density: 0.026 per sq. km
Time zone: Three hours behind Guernsey
Distance from Guernsey (to Nuuk): 3,293km (2,046m)
Total IG medals won: 87.5 (22 G, 30 S, 35.5 B)
Medals won in 2003: 8 (2 G, 1 S, 5 B)
Competitors coming to Guernsey: 66
Route: Flight from Nuuk to Copenhagen, flight to Guernsey
Sports in which competing: Athletics, badminton, golf, football, swimming, table tennis, triathlon
Biggest sports star: Martin Moller (cross-country skiing)
National delicacy: Suaasat (seal stew with potatoes, onions and rice or barley)
Parliamentary representation: 31 seats in the autonomous Greenlandic parliament – the Naalakkersuisut – with laws formally ratified by the Danish monarch, and two MPs in the 179-seat Danish Folketing
