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At Invictus Games, Paralympians and aspiring stars celebrate the power of Para sport
The competition reflects what Para sport can do to benefit people with disabilities, which is one of the core objectives of the Paralympic Movement 14 Sep 2023
The passion, the solidarity, the effort, the family, the stories. It is all there. The Invictus Games may not be a qualifying path for the Paralympic Games, but definitely has all the ingredients that make Para sport so impactful and important to the world.
Through seven days, injured military men and women from around the world, both serving and veterans, turn into Para athletes to compete in the event created back in 2014 by Prince Harry of Sussex and held this year in Dusseldorf, Germany.
As a fact, some of the participants also have Paralympic aspirations, such as Anikka Hutsler, from the United States. She is an energetic 27-year-old leg amputee fast-improving talent, that added up a fierce and hungry character to her assets. The epitome of a Para athlete.
“Before my amputation [due to a tumour in her right leg], I did not even know much about any sport, now I actively practice 19 of them. Sports gave me back the sense of living and the community that I lost”, said the American soldier, who at Invictus 2023 is competing [and winning medals] in four different events.
“I know I have to work really hard because Paralympics is a higher level of sport, but my goal is to get into the Winter Paralympics (Milano-Cortina 2026) in alpine skiing and then to LA 28 in track”, expressed Hustler. “And win”, she added with a smile.
International meeting
The Invictus Games 2023 edition brought together 21 countries and 550 competitors through 10 sports. Among them, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball, cycling, athletics, archery, table tennis, swimming, powerlifting and indoor rowing.
Wheelchair rugby has been one of the highlights, summoning more than 3.000 spectators for the final match between the USA and the United Kingdom on a Monday, on just the second day of the event. Another sign that Para sports are gaining more traction every day around the globe. The US team won gold.
“[Through Para sport] you discover things about yourself that you never knew, skills and abilities you did not you had, you unlocked your potential and performance. You and your families are once again part of a team”, manifested Prince Harry, during his live speech to close the day in the Merkur Spiel-Arena, in Dusseldorf.
Paralympian presence
The Invictus Games 2023 also had the presence and support of well-known Paralympians, such as German track and field athlete Felix Streng and American swimmer Ellizabeth Marks, both gold medallists in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
“It is a really special event because I see so many inspiring people who have overcome personal challenges and I see how they grow and how sports are part of the inclusion they learn and the rehabilitation they undergo”, said Streng, one of the ambassadors of the competition.
The 28-year-old added that although Invictus Games is not about elite sporting performances as the Paralympics, it has the same component of using sports to integrate the participants into daily life activities and society itself.
One Day with Felix Streng at The Invictus Games
On the other hand, Marks even went down memory lane and recalled how she, an injured soldier herself, participated in the Invictus Games 2016, in Florida, USA.
“Competing in 2016 was soul healing for me. I am an accidental athlete and at the time I did not know how big the sports stage could be. Swimming there for the first time was a full circle moment because I got to show everyone that I was okay. It was beautiful”.
The swimmer explained she carried the boost of winning four events in Invictus to her country’s Paralympic trails for Rio 2016 and clocked only 0.01 seconds short of the world record in the 100-meter breaststroke, her speciality. And then her elite athlete career took off: after that, Marks has taken part in multiple Paralympics and World Championships.
The Invictus Games 2023 will close on Saturday, in a ceremony that will include British singer Rita Ora.
The next edition of the event will happen in 2025, in the cities of Vancouver and Whistler, in Canada, with the intention to include winter sports to the competition.
