The Sydney 2009 World Masters Games, the seventh edition of what has developed into the world’s largest multi-sport event in terms of participation, is being held in the largest city in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and the capital city of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 from 10 October to 18 October in 2009.

Open to sportspeople of all abilities and most ages – the minimum age criterion ranges between 25 and 35 years depending on the sport – the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games includes competitors from more than 100 countries whom are competing in 28 sports.

Many of the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games sports competitions are taking place at 2000 Olympic Games venues, something that has not been the case to any significant degree at any of the previous six World Masters Games

World Masters Games

The World Masters Games is an international multi-sport event held every four years which, in terms of competitor numbers, has developed into the largest of its kind....

. The Sydney International Regatta Centre, the Sydney International Shooting Centre and several Sydney Olympic Park

Sydney Olympic Park

Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sydney Olympic Park is located 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Auburn Council....

 facilities, including the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, the Sydney Olympic Park Archery Centre and the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre

Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre

Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre is a multi-use stadium in Homebush, Australia. The capacity of the stadium is 18,000 spectators. It also hosted the 1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics.-External links:*...

 to list just three, are just some of the sites at which Sydney 2009 World Masters Games competitors are competing.

Sports

The Sydney 2009 World Masters Games features 28 sports – 15 core sports that are mandatory for all events under the auspices of the International Masters Games Association and 13 optional sports that the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games Organising Committee proposed to the International Masters Games Association.

Sport	Minimum age	Venue(s)
Archery Archery Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...	30	Sydney Olympic Park Archery Centre (target), The Armory (field), Five Dock Leisure Centre (indoor), to be advised (clout)
Athletics	30	Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre Map
Badminton Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...	35	Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre Map
Baseball Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...	35	Blacktown Olympic Park Blacktown Olympic Park Blacktown International Sportspark is a multi-sports venue in Doonside, a suburb in western Sydney, Australia. It includes three baseball diamonds, four softball diamonds, an athletics track and a Australian Rules Football/Cricket ground....  Baseball Complex, Corbin Reserve
Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...	30	Hills Sports Stadium, Bankstown Basketball Stadium, Menai Indoor Sports Centre, Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre, Sutherland Leisure Centre, Thornleigh Indoor Sports Centre
Canoe Canoe A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian... /Kayak Kayak A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...	30	Penrith Whitewater Stadium (canoe polo and slalom), Sydney International Regatta Centre (flatwater), Nepean River (marathon)
Cycling Cycling Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...	30	Dunc Gray Velodrome (track and women's criterium), Lansdowne Park (men's criterium), Eastern Creek Raceway & Western Sydney International Dragway(individual time trial and road race)
Diving Diving Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...	25	Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre
Football	30	Valentine Sports Park, Bernie Mullane Sports Complex, Fred Caterson Reserve
Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....	35	Bankstown Golf Club, Bonnie Doon Golf Club, Liverpool Golf Club, Long Reef Golf Club, Mona Vale Golf Club, Monash Country Club, New South Wales Golf Club, Pennant Hills Golf Club, Pymble Golf Club, Ryde-Parramatta Golf Club, St Michael's Golf Club, The Coast Golf Club, The Lakes Golf Club
Hockey Hockey Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...	35	Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre, Cintra Park Hockey Centre, The Crest Hockey Centre
Lawn Bowls	30	Birrong Bowling and Sports Club
Netball Netball Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...	35	Anne Clark Netball Centre Map, Parramatta Auburn Netball Association Courts
Orienteering Orienteering Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...	35	Lithgow (long), Sydney (sprint)
Rowing Rowing (sport) Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...	27	Sydney International Regatta Centre
Rugby Union Rugby union Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...	30 for women and 35 for men	TG Millner Field, Macquarie University Sports Fields
Sailing Sailing Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...	35	Woollahra Sailing Club, Dobroyd Aquatic Club
Shooting Shooting Shooting is the act or process of firing rifles, shotguns or other projectile weapons such as bows or crossbows. Even the firing of artillery, rockets and missiles can be called shooting. A person who specializes in shooting is a marksman...	30	Sydney International Shooting Centre
Softball Softball Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...	30	Blacktown Olympic Park Softball Centre, Jacqui Osmond Softball Centre, Kelso Park North Softball Complex
Squash Squash (sport) Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...	35	Dural Squash and Fitness Centre, Thornleigh Squash and Fitness Centre
Surf Lifesaving	30	Manly Beach (subject to Council approval)
Swimming Swimming (sport) Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...	25	Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (pool), Chowder Bay (open water)
Table Tennis Table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...	30	Hurstville Aquatic Leisure Centre
Tennis Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...	30	Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre, Cintra Park
Touch Football Touch football Touch football may refer to:* Touch football , a variant of American football where players touch, rather than tackle, their opponents* Touch rugby, games derived from rugby football in which players touch, rather than tackle, their opponents...	30	St Marys Leagues Club, The Kingsway Playing Fields
Volleyball Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...	30	Sydney Olympic Park Sports Halls (indoor) Map, Maroubra Beach (beach)
Water Polo Water polo Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...	30	Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre, MLC School Aquatic Centre, Ashfield Aquatic Centre
Weightlifting Powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport. It resembles the sport of Olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. Powerlifting evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same three attempt format but used a wide variety of events akin to Strongman...	35	Sydney Olympic Park, Southee Complex

Sydney 2009 World Masters Games Advisory Committee

Appointed by the New South Wales Government to advise the New South Wales Minister for Sport and Recreation and the Chief Executive Officer of the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games Organising Committee on all aspects of the planning and staging of the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games, the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games Advisory Committee, as of March 2009, comprised these seven people:

Position	Name	Other roles
Chair	Margy Osmond Margy Osmond Margy Osmond is an Australian businesswoman and current Chief Eexcutive of the Australian National Retailers Association , a role which she assumed in August 2006....	Chief Executive Officer of the Australian National Retailers Association
Member	Phil Coles AM	Member of the International Olympic Committee International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president... , Vice President of the World Taekwondo Federation
Member	Bob Elphinston OAM	President of the International Basketball Federation International Basketball Federation The International Basketball Federation, more commonly known as FIBA , from its French name Fédération Internationale de Basketball, is an association of national organizations which governs international competition in basketball...
Member	Michelle Ford-Eriksson MBE	1980 Summer Olympic Games gold medallist
Member	Chris Jordan AO	Chairman of KPMG KPMG KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands.... New South Wales
Member	John Moore	Managing Director of the Global Brands Group Australasia
Member	David Brettell	Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation

Sydney 2009 World Masters Games Organising Committee

Headed by Shane O'Leary, the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games Organising Committee comprises five divisions with, as of March 2009, its key personnel being:

Position	Name
Chief Executive Officer	Shane O'Leary
Chief Operating Officer	Lynne Bates AM
Group Manager, Games Services	James Hunter
Group Manager, Finance and Corporate Services	Sally Judd
Group Manager, Marketing	Rod Dowler
Group Manager, Communications & Media	Natalie Soltyszewski
Group Manager, Sport and Venues	Nick Jordan

External links

• Sydney 2009 World Masters Games website