The International Masters Games Association (IMGA) is the representative body of Masters sport worldwide and founded in 1985 to support the Olympic movement and ‘sport for all’ philosophy. The IMGA is a non-profit organisation recognised by the International Olympic Committee.

 

We promote lifelong competition, friendship and understanding between mature sportspeople, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, or sport status by organising sports festivals all over the world.

We believe life doesn’t stop when we grow older. We can still choose or start every day to live a healthy lifestyle and focus on what makes us feel good about ourselves. Experience the joy of sharing that passion with other like-minded adults. Sport is an amazing tool that can help every individual with achieving their goals and maintaining physical and mental health.

We aim to make our events accessible for everyone by selecting host cities in different regions that are also attractive from a tourism perspective. The flagship event of the IMGA, the World Masters Games, is officially world’s largest international participatory multi-sport event. It takes place every four years, attracting tens of thousands of athletes to new locations.

Since 1985 hundreds of thousands of athletes have gathered and competed at our World Masters Games, Winter World Masters Games and regional Masters Games (previously European, Asia- Pacific, Pan – American Masters Games; now Open Masters Series). We will continue our mission to inspire adults to challenge their capabilities at any age and enjoy life!

As a Sport Association we want to act responsible and sustainable, therefore we are focusing on highlighting those Sustainability Development Goals where we can have the biggest impact through our event activities and organisation, based on the three pillars: people, planet and prosperity.

Vision & Mission

The IMGA promotes lifelong competition, friendship and understanding between mature sportspeople, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, or sport status. Its mission is to offer worldwide multi-sports events for mature athletes in attractive destinations, in a sustainable manner, in the spirit of  ‘Sport for Life. Life without limits’.

Goals

The IMGA’s goals are the following:
1. Strengthen and grow the Masters’ sports movement
2. To encourage mature individuals to be active and engage in competitive sport throughout their lifetime.
3. To promote sustainable tourism and sport showcasing environmentally and socially responsible events.

Core values and guiding principles

As a sports association, the IMGA seeks to act responsibly and sustainably. It therefore focuses on highlighting the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDG’s) where it can have biggest impact through its event activities and organisation, based on the three pillars: people, planet and prosperity. Its Masters events provide adults with opportunities to meet like-minded people, explore beautiful locations and play the sports they love.

To monitor the execution of the UN Sustainability Developmment Goals the IMGA presents a full report for each event using the Event Impact Manual where uniform KPI’s have been established on the following topics, supporting the UN SDG’s:

• Economy
• Image
• Society
• Environment

 

Objectives

Through its activities, the IMGA seeks a number of outcomes to achieve its goals, in the process creating different types of value for its stakeholders in its ecosystem. Specifically its objectives are to:

• raise awareness of healthy lifestyles and social connection through sport in community.
• leverage athletes’ data to customize and enhance their experience.
• promote healthy lifestyles and social connection in the Masters’ community
• increase economic and social value generated in host city destinations, both in terms of the tourism revenues as well as the social cohesion and health benefits of sport.
• build momentum for sustainable use of existing venues and public transport, enhancing access and use of local facilities as well as building momentum for sustainable mobility solutions.

 

Key Activities

The IMGA organises several international multi-sport events for Masters athletes, including the World Masters Games, Winter World Masters Games, and regional Masters events.

The World Masters Games is the IMGA’s flagship event and is officially the world’s largest mass-participated international sports event. It takes place every four years, attracting tens of thousands of athletes to new locations worldwide.
The IMGA continues to build on its work through the following initiatives:

• Collaborating with key partners to further develop Masters sport
• Making use of data analytics to develop customer insight, in order to ensure continued relevance of IMGA events across its segments and to build the communities.
• Working with sports medicine professionals to promote health in mature individuals.
• Partnering with local governments to promote the triple bottom line and sustainable tourism.
• Activating the local population to participate in sports.
• Building a global online Masters community.