The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, in partnership with the UK’s Ministry of Defence, has announced the formation of a new international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick service personnel, which will take place in London from September 10-14.
The event, entitled the Invictus Games, has been championed by Prince Harry and will feature more than 300 wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, serving and veteran, competing in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the Lee Valley Athletics Centre. On the programme will be athletics, archery, wheelchair basketball, road cycling, indoor rowing, wheelchair rugby, swimming, sitting volleyball and a driving challenge.
Teams will be invited from the armed forces of 13 nations that have served alongside each other, with relative newcomers to adaptive sport joining advanced athletes in an inclusive programme. UK public-service broadcaster the BBC has signed on as the official broadcast partner of the Games and plans live coverage, highlights packages and other programming around the event. Automotive firm Jaguar Land Rover has agreed to become the Invictus Games’ presenting partner.
Speaking ahead of the unveiling today (Thursday), organising committee chairman Sir Keith Mills (pictured) told SportBusiness International: “Some months ago I was asked by Prince Harry to pull together a team to organise the Invictus Games for the injured and sick servicemen and woman from the British Armed Forces. There’s a big competition in the United States called the Warrior Games, where last year Prince Harry entered a British team. He thought it was an amazing competition, and decided it would be terrific to launch an international version of the Warrior Games in the UK. The name was based on the Invictus poem, which was chosen by a small group of us. Basically it’s a mini-Olympics taking place over four days with sports such as athletics, swimming and cycling.”
The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will contribute a significant grant to staging the Invictus Games. The event in September will mark the beginning of a legacy programme to support accessibility of adaptive sport and further employment opportunities for transitioning servicemen and women leaving the armed forces. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, is also supporting the cause by matching the Royal Foundation donation with £1m (€1.2m/$1.7m) from the Armed Forces Covenant (LIBOR) fund.
