The 2020

Invictus Games The Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event first held in 2014, for wounded, injured and sick military service personnel, both serving and veterans. The word 'Invictus' is Latin for 'unconquered', chosen as an embodiment of th ...

was an adaptive multi-sport event for wounded, injured and ill veteran and active defence personnel, that took place in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in April 2022, after having been postponed twice. It was the fifth edition of the Invictus Games.

Development and preparation

The games were to be held on 9–16 May 2020 at the Zuiderpark, but were postponed to 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. They were then postponed again to the spring of 2022. The opening ceremony on 16 April 2022 was attended by the event's founding patron

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. As the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, he is fifth in the line of succession to t ...

, and his wife

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle, August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family, media personality, entrepreneur, and former actress. She is married to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son ...

. Also in attendance were

Princess Margriet of the Netherlands Princess Margriet of the Netherlands (Margriet Francisca; born 19 January 1943) is the third daughter of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. As an aunt of the reigning monarch, King Willem-Alexander, she is a member of the Dutch Royal House a ...

, who is the Honorary Chair of the committee of recommendation of the 2020 Invictus Games and who christened the official Invictus Games Tulip in June 2021, and her son Prince Pieter-Christiaan. Representatives of participating nations were also present.

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

attended the closing ceremony on 22 April 2022. The

Royal Dutch Mint The Royal Dutch Mint (, abbreviated ) is a company founded in 1567 that is responsible for producing, among others, euro Dutch euro coins, coins for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is currently located in Houten, Netherlands, where it moved to ...

was announced as the sponsor and designer of the medals and other special sporty issues for the games.

The Games

Participating countries

The 18 participating countries of the

2018 Invictus Games The 2018 Invictus Games was an adaptive multi-sport event for wounded, injured and ill veteran and active defence personnel, held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The fourth Invictus Games, an event founded in 2014 by Prince Harry, Duke of ...

were invited back, along with new invitations to Belgium and South Korea. Due to COVID measures, Jordan, Afghanistan and New Zealand could not attend. The 17 participating countries were: * * * * * * * * * * * (host) * * * * * * Another team titled "Unconquered" also participated in certain events consisting of competitors from multiple nations.

Sports

There are 9 adaptive sports contested at the Games as well as the Land Rover Driving Challenge. * * * * * * * * * *Land Rover Driving Challenge

Medalists

Land Rover driving challenge

Archery

Athletics

;Men ;Women ;Mixed

Indoor rowing

;Men ;Women

Powerlifting

Road cycling

;Men ;Women

Swimming

;Men ;Women ;Mixed

Team sports

Media and broadcast

The games were documented in a

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called '' Heart of Invictus''.

Alex Jones Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American Far-right politics, far-right radio host, radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas. ''The Alex Jones Show'' is the lo ...

and JJ Chalmers covered the event in a 6 episode nightly recap programme on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

from 17 to 22 April 2022. On 8 April 2022, the British embassy in The Netherlands announced the podcast series ''Invictus Voices'', which features interviews with the competitors.

References

{{Invictus Games

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...