The Island Games are an international multi-sports event organized by the International Island Games Association

International Island Games Association

The International Island Games Association is an organisation the sole purpose of which is to organise the Island Games, a friendly biennial athletic competition between teams from several European islands and other small territories. The IGA liaises with the member island associations and with...

.

History

The Island Games began in 1985 as the Inter-Island Games, as part of the Isle of Man

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

 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

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, but also encouraged the countries of Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

 and Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, the territories of Faroe Islands

Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

, Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

, Saint Helena

Saint Helena

Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...

 and Channel Islands

Channel Islands

The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...

; and others to participate. Initially, fifteen islands with 600 competitors and officials took part in seven sports, with the total cost of staging the Games being put at £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

70,000. The track and field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 events were held on an eight-lane grass track, a far cry from the current games, which now use a synthetic track in a stadium capable of holding 10,000 spectators. So successful were the Games of 1985 that it was decided to hold a similar event two years later.

Game venues

Year	Games	Host Island	Country
1985	I 1985 Island Games The 1985 Inter-Island Games were the 1st Island Games, and were held in Isle of Man, from June 18 to June 24, 1985.-Medal table:-Sports:-External links:*...	Isle of Man	British crown dependency Crown dependency The Crown Dependencies are British possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea....
1987	II 1987 Island Games The 1987 Island Games were the 2nd Island Games, and were held in Guernsey, from September 10 to September 17, 1987.-Medal table:-Sports:-External links:*...	Guernsey	British crown dependency Crown dependency The Crown Dependencies are British possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea....
1989	III 1989 Island Games The 1989 Island Games were the 3rd Island Games, and were held in Faroe Islands, from July 5 to July 13, 1989.-Medal table:-Sports:-External links:*...	Faroe Islands	Danish autonomous province
1991	IV 1991 Island Games The 1991 Island Games were the 4th Island Games, and were held in Åland Islands, from June 23 to June 29, 1991.-Medal table:-Sports:-External links:*...	Åland Islands	Finnish autonomous province
1993	V	Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...	English county
1995	VI	Gibraltar	British overseas territory
1997	VII 1997 Island Games The 1997 Island Games were the 7th Island Games, and were held in Jersey, from June 14 to June 28, 1997.-Medal table:-Sports:-External links:* *...	Jersey	British crown dependency Crown dependency The Crown Dependencies are British possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea....
1999	VIII 1999 Island Games The 1999 Island Games were the 8th Island Games, and were held in Gotland, from June 26 to July 2, 1999.-Medal table:-Sports:-External links:* *...	Gotland	Swedish county
2001	IX 2001 Island Games The 2001 Island Games were the 9th Island Games, and were held in Isle of Man, from July 9 to July 13, 2001.-Medal table:-Sports:-External links:* *...	Isle of Man	British crown dependency Crown dependency The Crown Dependencies are British possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea....
2003	X 2003 Island Games The 2003 Island Games were the 10th Island Games, and were held in Guernsey, from June 28 to July 4, 2003.-Medal table:-Sports:-External links:* *...	Guernsey	British crown dependency Crown dependency The Crown Dependencies are British possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea....
2005	XI 2005 Island Games The 2005 Island Games were the 11th Island Games, and were held in Shetland, Scotland, from July 9 to July 15, 2005.-Medal table:-Sports:The 14 sports chosen for the games were:* Archery* Athletics* Badminton* Cycling* Football* Golf* Gymnastics...	Shetland Islands	Scottish county
2007	XII 2007 Island Games The 2007 Island Games were the 12th edition of the Island Games, and were held in Rhodes, Greece, from June 30 to July 6, 2007.-Medal count:- Sports :The 14 different sports chosen for this games were:* Archery* Athletics* Basketball* Cycling...	Rhodes	Greek island
2009	XIII 2009 Island Games The XIII Island Games were held in Åland, Finland, June 27-July 4, 2009. For the 13th edition of the Games, 25 teams competed in 15 different sports.-Participating Countries:24 islands competed in the 2009 Island Games...	Åland Islands	Finnish autonomous province
2011	XIV 2011 Island Games The XIV Island Games was a major international multi-sport event held from June 25 to July 1, 2011, in the Isle of Wight, England. A total of 2,306 athletes from 24 islands competed in 15 sports and 190 events...	Isle of Wight	English county
2013	XV 2013 Island Games The XV Island Games are due to be held in Bermuda, 2013. Bermuda were selected to host the games after being the only candidate left for nomination after Prince Edward Island pulled out...	Bermuda	British overseas territory
2015	XVI	Jersey	British crown dependency Crown dependency The Crown Dependencies are British possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea....

Sports

The host country chooses between 12 and 14 different sports for their games from this list:

• Archery
• Athletics
• Badminton
• Basketball
• Bowls
• Cycling

• Football
  Football at the Island Games
  Football has been a regular event since 1989 at the Island Games, the biennial multi-sports event for island nations, territories and dependencies...
  
  
• Golf
• Gymnastics
• Judo
• Road Racing (Motorcycle)
• Sailing

• Shooting
• Squash
• Swimming
• Table Tennis
• Tennis
• Triathlon

• Volleyball
• Windsurfing

Medals table

A list of IGA members (including current and former members) by total gold medals earned. Where there is a tie, silver medals decide placement, then bronze.

Island Games medal count

Pos	Country				Total
1	Jersey	418	408	387	1203
2	Isle of Man	343	333	353	1029
3	Guernsey	335	349	363	1047
4	Gotland	208	173	170	551
5	Faroe Islands	162	155	183	500
6	Åland Islands	153	160	134	447
7	Isle of Wight	150	138	182	470
8	Cayman Islands	65	44	49	158
9	Saaremaa	60	72	71	203
10	Bermuda	56	54	64	174
11	Iceland	50	45	41	136
12	Rhodes	50	43	43	136
13	Gibraltar	44	48	74	166
14	Shetland Islands	37	52	81	170
15	Minorca	28	25	33	86
16	Orkney Islands	19	31	37	87
17	Anglesey	19	30	38	87
18	Greenland	15	19	26	58
19	Prince Edward Island	6	6	9	21
20	Malta	6	2	2	10
21	Outer Hebrides	3	5	13	21
22	Sark	2	8	6	16
23	Falkland Islands	1	5	11	17
24	Hitra	1	2	0	3
25	Frøya, Norway	1	1	2	4
26	Alderney	0	2	3	5
27	Saint Helena	0	0	2	2

From 2001, competitors from islands with a population of less than 10,000 (Alderney, Falklands, Frøya, Hitra, St. Helena and Sark), also compete for Gold, Silver and Bronze 'Small Island Certificates', with restrictions that Silver is only awarded if at least 3 compete, and Bronze only if at least 4 compete.

External links

• IslandGames.net
• The 2007 Island Games was hosted in Rhodes, Greece