Mishall RehmanAbove image: Members of the rowing team.
Another successful iteration of the powerful Invictus Games came to a close on April 22 in The Hague, Netherlands.
After two years of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Invictus Games were highly anticipated amongst this year’s competitors.
This year’s Team Canada comprised of 32 competitors, both serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and veterans, participating in a number of events, including archery, sitting volleyball, swimming, wheelchair rugby, indoor rowing, wheelchair basketball, and powerlifting.
Beyond Medals
Although Team Canada managed to nab a number of medals at this year’s Invictus Games, the true victory is found beyond the medals for the competitors.
For many participants, this is about their journey to recovery, finding a new focus, and connecting with other competitors. However, for some team members, the event becomes a chance to find something new.
“If it wasn’t for the Invictus Games… I wouldn’t have learned how to swim. For me now, swimming is a lifelong sport. It’s my victory! Other sports like track or basketball will eventually be too difficult for my body, but I’ll still have swimming and the memories from the journey that brought me here. I can’t believe I was afraid of swimming, and I just swam alongside brothers and sisters in arms from 17 other nations,” said Joanne Bradley, a member of Team Canada who feared water before the games. She ended up competing in swimming in the Invictus Games 2020/2022 with the support of coaches and her team.
Looking to Next Year
With the games wrapping up in The Hague, everyone is now looking to next year’s host of Invictus: Germany. The games will be held in September 2023 in Dusseldorf, Germany. The games were supposed to take place in Germany this year. However, due to the delays caused by COVID-19, the games were postponed. They are scheduled to take place Sept. 9-16, 2023.
As a symbolic handover of the games, the Invictus Games flag made its way from The Hague to Dusseldorf, Germany, at the conclusion of this year’s games.
She’s home! The flag of the #InvictusGames has arrived at its first destination in Düsseldorf. The Merkur-Spielarena will be our #InvictusGamesPark at #IG23 🤩 After a short stop we will take the flag to the town hall to officially make Düsseldorf #aHomeForRespect 🖤(❤️)💛 pic.twitter.com/R6ELAMWlQr
— Invictus Games Düsseldorf 2023 (@InvictusGamesDE) April 25, 2022
“She’s home! The flag of the #InvictusGames has arrived at its first destination in Düsseldorf. The Merkur-Spielarena will be our #InvictusGamesPark at #IG23 after a short stop we will take the flag to the town hall to officially make Düsseldorf #aHomeForRespect,” tweeted out the official Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023 account on Monday.
