Russell Mark becomes a World Masters Games Ambassador
The Sydney 2009 World Masters Games Organising Committee today announced Australian shooting star, Olympic gold and silver medallist Russell Mark, as an ambassador for the world’s largest multi-sport event later this year.
A competitor at five Olympics since debuting as a 24-year-old in Seoul in 1988, Mr Mark won the men’s Double Trap in Atlanta in 1996 by an emphatic six-shot margin, but lost to Richard Faulds in the Sydney shoot-off for gold four years later.
The Games will see Mr Mark return to the venue at which he came close to winning back-to-back Olympic gold medals, with the Sydney International Shooting Centre in the city’s south-west staging all three shooting disciplines - Clay Target (12-18 October), Pistol (12-16 October) and Small Bore and Air Rifle (12-16 October).
“I’ve won Olympic and Commonwealth gold in men’s Double Trap, but only silver in it at the biggest Games of all, the World Masters. I’m looking forward to competing in the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games and going one better,” Mr Mark said.
Running 10-18 October, the Games are open to everyone rather than just elite athletes and will see 25,000 people from more than 100 countries compete in 28 sports across 72 Sydney venues, including many famous Olympic sites.
To enter the Games, people need only meet their sport’s minimum age, which ranges between 25 and 35 years. Shooting is open to people aged 30 plus, something that applies to the majority of the 28 sports on the Games program.
There will be seven Games Clay Target competitions for both genders (single-barrel, double-barrel, points double-barrel, American Skeet, ISSF Skeet, ISSF Double Trap and ISSF Rrap).
There will be three mixed Games Pistol competitions (25m Standard Pistol, 25m Rapid Fire and 50m Free Pistol), two Pistol competitions for both genders (10m Air Pistol and 25m Sport Pistol) and one Pistol competition for men only (25m Centre Fire Pistol). There will be six Games Small Bore and Air Rifle competitions for both genders (10m Air Rifle 40 shots, 10m Air Rifle 60 shots, 50m Free Rifle, 50m Free Rifle Three-Position, 50m ISSF Sport Rifle and 50m ISSF Sport Rifle Three-Position).
Mr Mark has joined the list of Games Ambassadors that includes Olympic champions Lord Sebastian Coe, Murray Rose and Daniel Kowalski.
Games registrations are open now at the 2009 World Masters website.
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