Ask any athlete what sport has given them, and you will rarely hear about a medal or a personal best as the whole story. Not the training hours, not the miles, not the medal around their neck. You will hear about resilience, about connection, about discovering who they really are. We put that question to a group of Masters athletes from around the world, and their answers turned into something bigger than sport. They turned into a story about who we become when we keep showing up.
Vanessa Hodge
For Vanessa Hodge, three medals in hand on the athletics track, the lessons ran deeper than performance. Sport became a mirror. “It shows me I can inspire others to keep going and that they can still do it,” she says, “and it taught me how to handle the hard days, as a mental outlet.” Somewhere between the training and the racing, she found herself.
Shahad Alotaibi
Then there is Shahad Alotaibi, standing proudly in front of the Open Masters Games sign in Abu Dhabi, who found something sport rarely gets credit for: a shared language. Competing across cultures and borders, she has watched sport dissolve barriers that words never could. “It creates an unmatched environment for building deep, lifelong trust through shared struggle, sweat and collective effort,” she says. No translation needed, just shared effort on the same field.
Pedro Yann
Halfway around the world in Taipei, Pedro Yann stands with five gold medals stacked around his neck, arms wide open, and sums up what so many Masters athletes come to learn: passion has no age limit. “It has shown me I can inspire others through my journey,” he says, “and that makes every challenge worthwhile.”
Shalina Ved Prakash
For Shalini Ved Prakash, that story started on an archery range, where every draw of the bow demanded more than steady hands. It demanded purpose. Gold medal now hanging around her neck, she reflects on what stayed with her long after the arrow left the string: “purpose, discipline, unwavering self-belief and resilience that I can use everywhere in my life.”
Roscoe J McDonnell
Thousands of miles away, on a running track under an open sky, Roscoe J McDonnell laces up his shoes for what might be his hundredth race, or his thousandth. Age has not dulled the gratitude. “I’m forever grateful for what running teaches me every day and what participating in the events has given me,” he says, and you get the sense he means every word, every single time he runs.
And in a quieter moment backstage, John Lockwood holds his taekwondo medal and a small plush mascot, grinning. For him, sport has been a passport: a chance to compete all over the world and meet amazing people along the way.
Different sports, different countries, different ages, and yet the same thread runs through every story. Sport gives us something no spreadsheet, no job title, no ordinary Tuesday ever could. It gives us purpose, connection, resilience and the quiet confidence that comes from testing ourselves and showing up anyway.
