The 2026 World Nomad Games have now finished. As the final medals have been awarded and the closing ceremony completed, thousands of competitors, spectators, judges, and volunteers now return home, wherever that is. In the vast majority of cases, they leave wholly enriched and enlightened by the magic that the WNG brings.
They say that the Universe is always in balance. Make a king – and create a beggar. But for this balance, both sides matter as much as each other. And there once lived a beggar who was proud of his profession – a maker of kings!
WNG never became a major international event by accident. Whatever the reason for their conception in the first instance, the re-emergence of the traditional is a reaction to the rise of the modern (even if not a deliberate one).
The surge of modernity and all its convenience doesn’t come without instilling fear in some people, at least, that the new world will displace the old world, that what was once the life that people think will last forever eventually becomes just a fading detail of history, little more than a sentence in a book tucked away on a dusty shelf.
The great nomadic tribes of the past are themselves a feature of history by now, albeit an enormous chapter of it, and actual nomads these days are in the tiniest minority, phased out by newer ways of doing things; tidier ways, handier ways, easier ways, warmer ways.
Unknowing, many may have seen the gathering on the northern shores of Issyk Kul last week as just a bit of fun, coupled with the opportunity for the men in suits to make a few quid.
So be it! Let’s not underrate fun. And why shouldn’t people make money?
What the World Nomad Games truly represent, at least in my opinion, is the Universe reaching a balance between the drive toward a more modern existence and the true essence of humanity, where we really come from.
This doesn’t mean a rejection of modernity; indeed, most of those in attendance at the games this last week will have purchased their tickets online, booked hotels similarly, and paid for things on their trip with their phones, scanning a handy QR code in even the smallest of stores.
Over 100 countries came to do battle in Kyrgyzstan last week, 29 of them winning at least one medal. While the final medal table from the games is being reported differently by various sources, what the numbers show overall is that the interest in sports and games, which in some cases have their origin centuries ago, is increasing year on year.
It is reported that over 200,000 people came to the WNG 2026, many from thousands of miles away. 106 countries took part, bringing over 3,000 athletes, and in some cases adding to the many officials and volunteers that turned the nine locations into a wash of colour for almost a whole week.
The Steppe Olympics don’t rival the actual Olympics on any statistical front, nor the Tour de France, World Cup, and they don’t hold a numerical candle to the World Darts Championship either. Nor, I guess, are they trying to.
What WNG do is keep the old world alive. And not just alive, but steadfastly refusing to rest – thousands of years of heritage that not only refuse to become just a souvenir, but even to stand aside and fade away gracefully.
A determination all backed by hundreds of thousands of people, more and more each time, who together prove that whatever the medal table says when the event is over, everybody really wins in the end.
