Prince Harry has announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the biannual Invictus Games will be postponed. This is the second year in a row that the Games will be postponed, after the COVID-19 pandemic prevented them from taking place in 2020, as well. The Games were set to take place from May 29 to June 5 of this year. They have now been rescheduled for a date TBD in the spring of 2022, in the Hague, Netherlands.
Harry shared the news on Twitter, posting a video message with the following caption:
“And when the world is ready. We will compete. With all we have. With all we are. We will wear our individual flags but know, that we are all one.”
Harry and the other participants in the video add, “To the key workers on the frontlines in the battle against the pandemic, we are with you.”
Prince Harry also announced that he will make a significant donation to the Invictus Games Foundation, after winning a legal dispute with the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline. Harry received “substantial damages” as well as an apology from the publishers of these two organizations after two articles published last year alleged that he had “turned his back” on the Royal Marines after leaving.
Harry’s lawyer, Jenny Afia, stated that Harry is donating the damages to the Invictus Games Foundation “so he could feel something good had come out of the situation.”
The Invictus Games, which were founded by Prince Harry in 2014, is a sporting event held every two years in which wounded, injured and sick members of the armed services compete in multiple sporting events across several days. The event was created to embody the “fighting spirit” of these men and women in order to help them through recovery and rehabilitation, as well as to create more awareness of, and respect for, members of the armed services.
Including the year that they were founded, the Invictus Games have been held four times. While 14 countries were invited to the first Games in 2014, additional countries have since been added, with the highest number of participating countries sitting at 18 at the most recent Games in 2018.
Swimming is among the 10 sports contested at the Invictus Games, along with athletics, archery, cycling, indoor rowing, JLR Driving Challenge, powerlifting, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair rugby.
Swimmers participate in 50s of freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke, as well as the 100m freestyle and the mixed and women’s 4x50m free relay. Swimmers also compete in different categories for each event, including ISA, ISB, ISC, and ISD.
At the 2018 Invictus Games, the UK’s Mark Ormrod was a multi-time medalist, winning the men’s ISA 100m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, and placing second in the 50m freestyle of the same category.
On the women’s side, the USA’s Hannah Marguerite Stolberg picked up multiple wins, including wins in the women’s ISB 100 free, 50 back, and 50 breast. She also added a silver medal in the women’s ISB 50 free.