Knuckle hop and two-foot high kick: the Olympics for Alaska Natives breathe new life into ancient games

The annual World Eskimo Indian Olympics draw hundreds of Indigenous athletes to partake in traditional games and celebrate their heritage

As Nicole Johnson prepared to compete in the Alaska sports arena, she visualized propelling into the air and kicking the ball with both of her feet simultaneously. The Inupiaq athlete was partaking in the Arctic game of two-foot high kick, long practiced by her community of northern Alaska Natives. When she kicked the ball made of seal skin that dangled from a kickstand, the crowd erupted in cheers. That day in July 1989 at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics (WEIO), Johnson set the women's world record in the sport by striking the target at 6ft 6in.

For this year's event, at age 57, she will compete in the dene stick pull, where she and another participant will hold on to the center of a stick covered in grease and attempt to wrest the object from their opponent.