What is World Masters Sport?
World Masters Sport is the trading name adopted in 2026 by the International Masters Games Association, the body that owns the World Masters Games. The association announced the change on 2 March 2026, keeping the tagline "Sport Without Limits" and, in the words of its president Sergii Bubka, the belief that "sport has no age limit".[1] The announcement does not state that the legal entity was renamed, and references to an "IMGA General Assembly 2026" in the same item suggest the registered name survives; this page could not confirm the legal position and therefore carries both names.[1]
The association describes itself as a non-profit organisation recognised by the International Olympic Committee, created to support the Olympic movement and the sport-for-all principle, and champions "lifelong competition, friendship and understanding between mature sportspeople".[2]
It governs no sport. What it owns is an entry model: open age and category eligibility, no qualifying standard, and competition run to the technical rules of each sport's own federation.[2] [3]
What does World Masters Sport govern or do?
The association's function is to award, license and supervise masters multi-sport events. Its portfolio covers the World Masters Games every four years, the Winter World Masters Games, and a set of regional events formerly branded as European, Asia-Pacific and Pan-American Masters Games and now presented as Open Masters Games.[2] The rebrand announcement adds an intention to operate as a year-round engagement platform between editions rather than only at Games time.[1]
Entry is by age rather than by selection. The association promotes the Games for athletes aged 30 and over, and minimum ages vary by sport; secondary sourcing puts the range between 25 and 35 depending on the discipline, with competitors entering as individuals rather than as members of a national team.[3] [4] That makes a World Masters Games result categorically different from a national-team international, and it is the point to be careful about when such a result is offered as evidence of standing.
The association is nonetheless inside the anti-doping system: it has had its testing programme delivered by the International Testing Agency since October 2022, covering in-competition and out-of-competition testing, results management and therapeutic use exemptions.[5]
When was it founded and where is it based?
The founding date is disputed between sources this page retrieved. The association's own about page states that it "was established in 1985", the year of the first World Masters Games in Toronto.[2] The International Testing Agency's partner entry for the body states instead that it was "founded in 1995 to support the Olympic movement and 'sport for all' philosophy".[5] The 1995 date is the one usually given for the incorporation of the association as distinct from the first edition of the event; this page records the conflict and does not choose between them.
The rename is a third and separate date: 2 March 2026, when IMGA announced that it would be known as World Masters Sport.[1]
The association's pages retrieved here do not state a registered seat. Lausanne is given by secondary sources and is recorded on that basis only; this page could not confirm it from a primary source.
How is it recognised?
The association states that it is recognised by the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee and UN Tourism, and displays those three marks on its event pages.[2] [4] The ITA's independent partner entry likewise describes it as "a non-profit organisation recognised by the International Olympic Committee".[5]
The instrument behind the IOC limb is the Olympic Charter, which at Rule 3 in the version in force from 3 February 2026 provides that "the IOC may grant formal recognition to the constituents of the Olympic Movement" and that "the IOC may recognise non-governmental organisations connected with sport, operating on an international level".[6] The Charter's bye-law to Rule 2 provides separately for IOC patronage of "international multisports competitions — regional, continental or worldwide".[6]
The IOC has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the association covering support for mature athletes. This page could not retrieve the IOC's own report of that memorandum, which was blocked to automated access, and therefore states neither its date nor its terms.
What does it organise?
The World Masters Games are the association's flagship, described by it as the world's largest participatory multi-sport event and held every four years.[2] The 2025 edition, in Taipei and New Taipei City, recorded 25,049 participants across 35 sports from 108 countries on secondary sourcing; the first edition, Toronto 1985, drew 8,305 competitors in 22 sports from 61 countries.[3]
The eleventh edition goes to the Kansai region of Japan from 14 to 30 May 2027, across 61 competition venues and a programme of 35 member sports plus additional sports including gateball, ground golf, soft tennis, tug of war and the aquatic disciplines.[4] The association's calendar then lists Open Masters Games at Como Lake, Italy, from 17 to 26 September 2027, Winter World Masters Games at Lahti, Finland, from 14 to 23 January 2028, and World Masters Games at Perth, Australia, in 2029.[7]
These are multi-sport games in form but open in entry, which is the single feature that distinguishes them from every other event in this layer of the movement.[2]
Who are its members?
The association is not a membership federation of nations in the way that the IOC or a world governing body is. Its working relationships are with the international federations whose sports appear on the programme, with host cities and regions, and with the masters organisations that feed entries; the rebrand announcement describes an intention to strengthen "partnerships across cities and federations".[1]
Entry at the individual level runs through membership of the relevant sport's governing body together with the age qualification, rather than through selection by a national body, so competitors appear as individuals and not as a national team.[3] That is why the Games sit outside the professional and amateur framework entirely: entry turns on age and affiliation, not on status or standard.[2] [3]
Governance is by a General Assembly and a board; the ITTF president was appointed to the board in 2022, an indication that international federation representation sits on it. This page could not retrieve a current board list from the association's own site and does not give its composition.
References
- World Masters Sport — IMGA becomes World Masters Sport: a new global era for lifelong sport, 2 March 2026. Accessed September 2026.
- World Masters Sport — About us. Accessed September 2026.
- Wikipedia — World Masters Games (secondary, participation figures and age bands). Accessed September 2026.
- World Masters Sport — Kansai 2027. Accessed September 2026.
- International Testing Agency — Partner: International Masters Games Association (IMGA). Accessed September 2026.
- International Olympic Committee — Olympic Charter, in force as from 3 February 2026, Rule 2 bye-law and Rule 3 (PDF). Accessed September 2026.
- World Masters Sport — upcoming Games calendar. Accessed September 2026.