July 19, 2007

• WEIO-UPDATED

  UPDATE
  

  
  

  photo credit:  Marc Lester, adn.com

  It is now day 2 of this year’s World Eskimo-Indian Olympics.  The Anchorage Daily News has these new stories:

  Salmon, whale blubber and seals lend unique flavor to Native games
  and
  One-hand reach is a total body performance

  Plus a day one photo gallery and video of the kneel-jump competition.
  

  ---

  (originally posted 12:25 PM, July 18, 2007)

  Today, the 46th annual World Eskimo-Indian Olympics begins in Anchorage.  That is a first.  The other 45 WEIO meets have been held in Fairbanks.

  If you have an image in your mind of black-haired, brown-skinned athletes sprinting, pole-vaulting and playing other Greek-style games, wipe those stereotypes from your mind and let me replace them with a more interesting picture.  Anyone who is impressed with the athletic prowess displayed in Olympic competition will be amazed by what he sees at WEIO.

  The ancient Greeks, it is said, developed their games as physical training for war.  Some Eskimo games demonstrate skills that have use for survival in a harsh environment, and others demonstrate the imagination and endurance of a highly creative and competitive people.  I watch these athletes with awe as I see them almost casually do the apparently impossible, and it is all done with humor even though the competition is intense.

  Beth Bragg’s column in today’s Anchorage Daily News includes the cautions to spectators to be prepared to wait, and to stay up late:

  As WEIO icon Big Bob Aiken of Barrow has said over and over while emceeing the games: WEIO runs on Indian time. The schedule is merely a suggestion of when things might happen.

  An 11 a.m. event might start at 11, or at 11:30, or at noon, or even later. WEIO follows its own pace, which tends to be loose. “We go with the flow,” said Perry Ahsogeak, chairman of the WEIO board of governors.

  This year, organizers aren’t even pretending there’s a schedule. All they will commit to is that evening sessions will begin at 6 and include about a dozen events. When each of those events begin is anyone’s guess. The wise spectator checks out arts and crafts booths or reads a book while waiting for a favored event to begin.

  A competitor in this year’s seal skinning contest is trying to break a record set in the 1960s by her husband’s grandmother:  54 seconds.  That is truly impressive.  I can’t skin a rabbit in less than a minute.  I never tried to skin a seal, but… less than a minute??  You know that’s gotta be fast, since the record has stood for this long.

  One audience participation event is a perennial crowd pleaser:  nalakatuk, the blanket toss.  Spectators are invited to grab onto the edge of the walrus skin blanket and help propel contestants about 30 feet into the air.  Points are awarded on height and on style.  Dancing feet, running motions, flips and rolls, or all of the above, make this event a fun one to watch, a hard one to judge, and a real challenge to win.  (photo credit:  Bill Hess)

  Competitions include a muktuk eating contest — that’s raw whale blubber, said to have a crisp mouth feel and a flavor close to fresh coconut.  Yum.

  The athletic events often involve feats of strength, balance, and agility performed under handicapping conditions, such as the swing kick for height, with a belt binding the knees to the neck, or hopping for the greatest distance on one’s knuckles. (The  photo here at the right and the one below, left, are by Lael Morgan, from the 1972 WEIO.)

  Some of these events have a sadomasochistic feel, such as the ear weight:

  “The weights used in this event are 16 one pound lead ingots, which are threaded through twine. The contestant must loop the twine around one ear and by lifting straight up, without using the cheek, pack the “weight” and go for distance. Before lead weights were used, sacks such as twenty-five pounds of flour were used. Distances of over 2,000 feet are attained.”

  …and the ear pull:

  “In this event, there are two people sitting down facing each other with twine looped around each other’s ear – right ear to right ear, left to left. The two begin a “tug-of-war” to see who the winner is. Best two out of three wins the match. There are times when the loop will slip off one opponent’s ear – that person is the loser of that round. Each participant alternate each round using alternate ears. A game of stamina to pain, the victor demonstrates he/she can withstand pain, a trait sometimes needed to survive the harsh realities of the North.”

  The events (unscheduled but expected to occur) today on the opening day of this year’s games include:

  TOE KICK

  This game is where the player stands at a given line and jumps forward attempting to kick a stick (one-inch in diameter) backwards with the toes of both feet remaining together. The contestant must land forward of the mark where the stick was. When all players accomplish this, the stick is moved another two inches forward for each round until a winner is determined. Each player is allowed three attempts at each distance in case of misses. This is another game of athletic prowess and balance. Balance is needed while negotiating the rotten ice during breakup. (photo here)

  KNEEL JUMP

  In this event, the contestant sits on the floor at a given line and must have his/her feet flat on the floor with the bottoms up. From this position, he/she then jumps as far forward as possible, lands on his/her feet, and maintains balance. The contestant is allowed to swing his/her arms back and forth to gain momentum for the leap forward. The practicality of this event comes from the quickness and balance one has to have while being out on the moving ice during break up.

  and

  ONE-HAND REACH

  This game requires the athlete to balance on his/her hands with at least one elbow tucked under the lower abdominal area. The rest of the body is parallel to the floor. The participant will then use one hand to reach up and touch the suspended target. Upon doing this, the participant must get that hand back to the floor before any other part of his/her body touches the floor while demonstrating his/her balance to the floor officials. This is a game demonstrating balance, athletic prowess, and strength. Height is the objective.

  The photo at right is from Vox of Dartmouth, illustrating a story about Dartmouth student Elizabeth Rexford who won a number of events in the 2005 WEIO.  Descriptions of the various events above (along with many others) are on the WEIO website.   Photos of some of this year’s competitors can be seen here and here.  That latter shot, of Manuel Tumulak Jr., doing a one-foot high kick, illustrates a story about him at adn.com.

  There will be local TV coverage of highlights from the games, and a few hours each day on ARCS, the Alaska Rural Communications Service.  I don’t know if there is enough interest Outside for coverage on broadcast networks or satellite sports channels.  If not, you just don’t know what you’ll be missing.

   

  • 6:10 pm
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