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September 21, 2001
An Arctic sports veteran from Kimmirut
TAMARA MACPHERSON
AWG Host Society
Twenty-three-year-old
Ooleetua Judea of Kimmirut.
(PHOTO BY TAMARA MACPHERSON)
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IQALUIT — Ooleetua Judea, 23, will compete in her sixth
Arctic Winter Games next year, this time in Nuuk, Greenland.
A long-time Arctic Sports competitor and resident of Kimmirut,
Ooleetua usually competes in all the events. “But kneel-jump
is my favourite,” she says.
Ooleetua is quick to credit the community of Kimmirut for her
successes. “Each year I head off for the Arctic Winter Games,
people from around the community come out to see the athletes
off and wish us luck. When we return from the games, a tea party
is held for us at the gym. It makes us feel good.”
She adds that when the younger kids in the community see athletes
getting positive attention it makes them want to get involved
too.
And they do. Each Tuesday night is Arctic Sports night at the
community gym in Kimmirut. Youth come out to practice the various
sports and some give demonstrations on cultural days or at the
visitor’s centre. Those who do well compete in the Baffin
regionals and may go on to the Arctic Winter Games.
Ooleetua was 14 when she went to Slave Lake, Alta., to participate
in the 1992 games. It was her first time away from home.
“Participating in the games has given me more confidence
in myself,” she says. “It made me believe that I can
do what I want.” Ooleetua started attending the Nunavut Teacher
Education Program at Arctic College in the fall of 2001.
Ooleetua follows in the footsteps of her father, who is known
for his Arctic Sport savvy. “When I first started, he would
say, ‘We do it like this, not like that,’ because some
of the sports have changed over time,” she says.
She adds that her father doesn’t speak often, but told her
that “he was part of her” when she came home from her
first set of games in 1994 with one gold ulu, two silvers and
one bronze.
“Every time people visit our house, my father shows them
the ulus displayed in my room,” she adds. Jamesie, Ooleetua’s
brother, and Pudloo, her younger sister, are Arctic Sport athletes
as well. “It runs in the family,” sums up Ooleetua with
a big smile.
The Open Male and Junior Female categories of Arctic Sport will
be hosted in Iqaluit, and Open Female and Junior Male categories
in Nuuk, Greenland.
The 2002 Iqaluit Arctic Winter Games will be held March 17-23,
2002. The 18 sports will be divided between Iqaluit and Nuuk.
The Arctic Winter Games is the most prestigious multi-national,
multi-cultural, multi-sport event in the circumpolar North. In
addition to a spectacular opening and closing ceremony, the games
will boast five nightly cultural galas featuring performers from
the nine participating contingents from around the circumpolar
north.
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