Island Games: What is the sporting competition all about and who takes part?

Guernsey in the Channel Islands is hosting this year's Island Games

The Island Games is a big sporting competition that takes place every other year, with 24 islands from around the world competing across 18 different sports.

It includes many islands from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic to the Caribbean.

There are also many islands that are part of the British Isles, like the Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, and Anglesey which competes under its Welsh name Ynys Mon.

The Western Isles, Orkney, the Shetland Islands, as well as the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark also take part.

This year the competition is being held in Guernsey, who hosted the opening ceremony on Saturday.

Over the next six days thousands of athletes will be competing for medals, so let's find out a bit more about the competition and its history.

How did the Island Games start?

The games first began in 1985 during the Isle of Man's Year of Sport. The island had the idea to bring together athletes from small islands across the world to take part in a new sporting festival — the 'Inter-Island Games'.

The first ever games saw 700 sportsmen and women from 15 islands travel to the Isle of Man to take part.

It included the Faroe Islands and Scandinavia, the British Isles, the Mediterranean and as far afield as St Helena in the South Atlantic— a 5,000-mile trip.

More than 1,600 medals will be handed out during the six-day event, and all the medals come in a presentation box shaped like a pebble

It was seen as a 'Small Islands Mini Olympics'.

After a week of events in eight different sports the festival was regarded as a success and it continued every other year, with the second Games held in Guernsey in 1987.

Over the years the Games has been hosted by the Faroe Islands, Áland, the Isle of Wight, Gibraltar and Jersey, where the number of competitors reached 2,000.

Many more islands have expressed their desire to join, and representatives of a wide variety of sports have also been working hard to try and persuade organisers to include theirs in the competition.

Do the games benefit people living on the islands?

Tour de France and Commonwealth Games medallist Mark Cavendish started by competing in the Island Games

As support and recognition for the event has grown, it has become important to the islands' sporting communities.

The possibility of being chosen to represent their home island in the Games can be a motivation for young athletes living on an island.

Some Island Games medallists have also gone onto achieve success in much bigger international competitions, like the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.

Which famous people have competed at the Island Games?

Mark Cavendish MBE represented the Isle of Man at cycling and then went onto win the Tour de France, the biggest cycling event in the world.

Kelly Sotherton also competed for the Isle of Wight in both the heptathlon and 400m in the Island Games, before going on to win bronze at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics.

The islands' governments have also said the Games have had an impact when it comes to promoting a healthy lifestyle and strengthening their islands' cultural identity.

More than 90 athletes from Shetland travelled to the games by boat - a journey of more than 1,000 miles

Which sports are included in the Island Games?

From target and endurance events to team sports, the Games holds competitions in a wide range of sports and is open to competitors as young as 13.

Around 1,200 volunteers are also involved in supporting the games.

This year the sports are:

Archery

Athletics

Badminton

Basketball

Bowls

Cycling

Football

Golf

Gymnastics

Judo

Sailing

Shooting

Squash

Swimming

Table Tennis

Tennis

Triathlon

Volleyball

When are this year's Island Games?

This year's Island Games run from Saturday 8 July - Friday 14 July in Guernsey.

Have you heard of the Island Games before? Get in touch and let us know what you think.