Meika McDonald

Meika McDonald (born 1974), a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation living in Fort Smith Northwest Territories has won 34 medals while participating in Arctic Sports competitions over ten Arctic Winter Games (1998–2006). She set three Arctic Winter Games records in Alaskan high kick (both junior and open women's) and triple jump (open women's). McDonald was a recipient of the Sport North Federation's Mary Beth Miller Memorial Senior Female Athlete of the Year in 1998. She became a director for the Arctic Winter Games International Committee in 2007, and was inducted into the NWT Sport Hall of Fame in 2015 for her athletic accomplishments in Arctic Sports. She credits her father, Tim McDonald as her coach. She competed at the 1994 Arctic Winter Games while also taking care of her four month old son.

Career

Athletics

McDonald was coached by her father, Tim McDonald from an early age, at the Arctic Winter Games ten times (1988 to 2006), winning 34 medals - 14 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze. in Junior Women's Alaskan high kick (5'8") in 1990, the Open Women's Alaskan high kick (1.8 meters) in 1998, and the Open Women's triple jump event (7.08 meters) in 2000. McDonald goes on in the video to outline the "family philosophy" of these games, explaining how her family is all involved in passing down these traditional games through competing, coaching and officiating (4:34-5:03)

Awards McDonald received the Sport North Federation's Mary Beth Miller Memorial Senior Female Athlete of the Year in 1998 and was awarded the Governor General's Meritorious Service Medal in 2017, with her investiture in 2019.