3rd July 2015

Jersey’s Island Games come to an end

Jersey hosted the 16th Island Games from 27 June to 3 July 2015. 3000 competitors travelled to Jersey from 24 islands and competed in 14 sports, with the main focus being Florence Boot Fields in St Clement (although the opening and closing ceremonies had been staged at Howard Davis Park in St Helier).

The event’s mascot was Indigo, the young silverback gorilla at Durrell Wildlife Park. He was the first animal chosen to represent the Games in its history. Jersey’s selection as the 2015 host had been announced five years previously.

Extremes of weather

The week of the Games had seen some extreme weather conditions, with more than 63 hours of sunshine and a top temperature of 33 degrees Celsius, two days before the thunder and rain rolled in on Thursday morning, dropping 7.7mm on the island.

Jersey, which with 264 athletes had the largest team, topped the medals table, with 50 gold, 53 silver and 30 bronze gongs, for an overall haul of 133. Guernsey came second and the Isle of Man third, each with 95 and 90 medals respectively. Sark, in 17th position, took home four medals, of which one was gold, but the team from Alderney returned empty-handed. Perhaps most impressive was the five Games records set by Jersey competitors in the women’s discus, men’s discus, and three women’s shooting events.

The opening and closing ceremonies differed in one subtle but important manner: while the competitors had entered the field by country for the opening, they paraded in sport groups for the closing, before Jersey handed over the Island Games flag to 2017 hosts Gotland.