Taiwan has never served as a venue for the Olympic Games but it has successfully hosted a number of major international sporting events. In 2009 the southern harbour city of Kaohsiung did a superb job welcoming the 8th World Games (an Olympics-style event featuring sports that aren’t part of the summer or winter Olympics) and the same year Taipei was the host city for the 21st Deaflympics. In 2017 Taipei hosted the 29th Summer Universiade. In 2022 and 2023 star baseballers arrived on the island for the Under-23 Baseball World Cup, the Under-18 Baseball World Cup, and then the 2023 Asian Baseball Championship.
This year Taiwan is getting another chance to express its heartfelt hospitality and display its organisational efficiency when it plays host to sportsmen and women from over 100 countries, here to take part in the 2025 World Masters Games. Following a joint bid by the cities of Taipei and New Taipei, in which they demostrated how they could integrate and share their resources, the International Masters Games Association (IMGA) announced on October 22, 2020 that the tenth edition of the games will be held from May 17 to May 30 this year.
The event’s slogan — ‘Sports beyond age & life without limits’ — provides a clue as to what makes this multisport extravaganza unique. In
each sport, there’s a minimum age criterion; in some it’s as young as 25 while in others it’s as old as 35 years. Those competing aren’t the fastest or strongest in the world; instead they’re veterans of exceptional ability. What’s more, the number of athletes participating is far greater than at the Summer Olympic Games: The World Masters Games in Sydney (2009) and Auckland (2017) saw more than 28,000 men and women join, compared to 10,714 at the recent Paris Olympics. Among the ‘masters’ are scores of retired professional athletes and former Olympic competitors.
This time around, the sports will include: archery; athletics; baseball and softball; basketball; cycling; fencing; golf; judo; sailing; shooting; tennis; and weightlifting. There are also some sports you won’t see in the regular Olympics such as: boules; gateball (a sport similar to croquet that’s especially popular in East Asia; lifesaving; tug-of-war; and woodball (another croquet-like activity, invented in Taiwan).
Of course, for a great many of the masters, winning comes second to the joy of participating. There’s also the delight of travelling to a new place. In this regard, the Taipei-New Taipei region couldn’t be better: On top of delicious food, rich religious culture, and one of the world’s very finest museums, there’s excellent public transport, fascinating markets, and nearby mountains. Like other societies heavily influenced by Confucianism, Taiwan is a place where the elderly enjoy respect: Silver-haired visitors will notice that younger people give up their seats on buses and trains without waiting to be asked.
Self-guided travel in the Taipei area isn’t difficult. Even if you don’t speak Chinese, touring less populated parts of Taiwan by yourself is possible. To get the most out of a trip, however, we recommend you explore with one of our bilingual, highly experienced, and profoundly knowledgeable driver-guides.
Whether you’re coming for the culture or the scenery or the food — or all of the above — contact our travel experts today to begin tailoring your private tour of Taiwan. We’ll design an original itinerary attuned to your interests, culinary preferences, and accommodation requirements.