Abstract
Founded in 1979 at the initiative of the Regional Olympic and Sports Committee of Reunion Island, the Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) settled in the following decades within the myriad of “regional games.” A micro-scalar replica of the Olympic Games, they are impacted by the phenomenon of globalization on a world scale – even if they want to be, above all, a sports showcase of the Indian Ocean space. As such, the IOIG have beenhomogenized with regard to international sports standards. However, a form of polarization persists with respect to this normative reference, linked to local political, social, economic or territorial parameters. Through the paradigm of cultural identity and opportunities related to regional cooperation, the IOIG are also marked by a process of upward hybridization. In sum, they are a heuristic example of the variations and ambivalences of theglobalization of sport at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.