Excitement builds as World Eskimo-Indian Olympics opens

FAIRBANKS — Athletes and fans from around Alaska converged on the Carlson Center on Wednesday as the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics got underway.

The annual four-day competition traces its history back to 1961. Now, it includes 21 competitive events and a few demonstrations, most born of the survival skills integral to the history of rural Alaska and its Native people.

If you're in Fairbanks and want to check it out, you can find a daily schedule of events at the WEIO website. For everyone else, follow along as we provide several updates each day on the sights, sounds and stories from one of Alaska's most iconic athletic events.

Before the doors opened Wednesday evening, Sam Strange, who has been involved as an athlete, coach or official for more than 25 years, talked about what makes this competition unique. It might seem peculiar to someone expecting the all-or-nothing intensity of, say, a basketball tournament. At WEIO, competition and camaraderie aren't mutually exclusive.

"In basketball, when you meet your opponents right before the start of the game, you usually don't go to them and go, 'Hey, if you drive to my left, I'm kind of weak that way.' And they beat you because you coached them to help them do better. Here, we have that," Strange said.

"It's just like hunting. You want to be successful, but you want the village to be successful."

Strange said officials will oversee 150 to 200 athletes and participants.

Event coordinator Elizabeth Bridges, in her second year on the job, darted around the arena working with a team of volunteers, coordinating everything from athletes and schedules to making sure seals have arrived for the skinning competition and muktuk has been thawed for the eating event.

"I can't wait to see the excitement of all the participants," she said. Many are friends and family who haven't seen one another in a year.

But before the power and pain is put on display, the event began with a little pageantry. Several dance groups marched into the arena, and two runners carried the torch that lit the seal oil lamp. In what must have been the first test of endurance, contestants for Miss WEIO awaited their entrance dressed in heavy fur regalia on a warm Interior day. Strange held up a fan to try to keep them cool.

_________

Lofty goals

Competitive action got underway with a preliminary round of women's blanket toss. Judges asked the audience for dozens of assistants to help pull the blanket that launches the competitor into the air. Nick Hanson, of Unalakleet, a competitor on NBC's "American Ninja Warrior" obstacle competition show, gave the crowd a demonstration, doing flips in the air.

_________

Getting carried away

The first day of WEIO ended with the finals in the four man carry event. In this strength contest, athletes carry four volunteers, who each weigh about 150 pounds, for distance around the court. Matthew Sido Evans, who holds the WEIO record in the event, took home the top prize again this year. Hear from Evans, and get a glimpse of the action in this video.