Italian/Senegalese Olympic shooter Chiara Costa (49) may have one of the most captivating backstories among the 16,000 participants expected at the Pan Pacific Masters Games, on the Gold Coast from November 1-10.
After her glittering state and national level junior athletics career was cut short by recurrent knee injuries at age 14, and a plunge into swimming cruelled at the ripe old age of 18, Mellisa Hanson discovered a love of gymnastics after taking her children to WAG and MAG classes in Dubbo.
