A statement from Dominic Reid OBE, CEO of the Invictus Games Foundation

The Invictus Games have achieved an enormous amount since their inception in London in 2014. They have grown from a good idea ‘borrowed’ into an international sporting event and a globally recognised brand in only 10 years. Many lives have been changed and saved by the work we have done staging six Invictus Games around the world and delivering an important programme of adventures and challenges Beyond the Games, for which demand continues to grow through our ground-breaking We Are Invictus app.

When we started, we had hoped that it would be a one-off event. But the unstable geopolitical landscape we now inhabit makes it vital that our work continues well into the future, as more and more service personnel are wounded every day.

Our global community continues to demonstrate the impact of Invictus across the world. We have established legacy programmes with Invictus Australia and Invictus Germany. The Netflix series ‘Heart of Invictus’ showed the competitor journey and the experience of Team Ukraine at the Invictus Games The Hague 2020. And last month Germany adopted a national Veteran’s Day for the first time – in no small part due to their hosting of the Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023.

I am pleased to have set the Foundation on a solid footing and to have built an outstanding team which is drawn in part from the community we serve. It has been a privilege to work closely with Prince Harry to deliver his vision of an international sporting event for those who have served, and for their families and friends. His concept, passion, and drive have been instrumental in our success, in particular by focussing attention on mental health in sports rehabilitation.

It has been an honour to build and work with an incredible, dedicated and high-functioning team whom I count as friends and not just colleagues. And to establish and develop this global movement which now has twenty-three member nations and a presence on every continent.

My part in delivering those inaugural Games in London in 2014; establishing the Invictus Games Foundation; and building a community changing the lives of thousands of competitors, veterans, service personnel and their family members and friends around the world, will always be a source of great pride and satisfaction.

It is the pinnacle of a life’s work with veterans which began in 1995 with Tribute & Promise which marked the 50^th Anniversary of VJ Day. And had its roots in my military service which started when I was commissioned in 1981, moved into Reserve Service and finished with my appointment as an Honorary Colonel.

But after 10 years at the helm, and as we celebrate our 10^th Anniversary and prepare for the first Winter hybrid Games at Vancouver Whistler 2025 which will bring together our traditional core sports with the addition of some winter sport, now is the time for someone new to take this vital movement forward into its second vigorous decade. With a fantastic pipeline of host city bids, including the very soon-to-be-announced Invictus Games 2027, it promises to be more dynamic and impactful than ever before.

The search for my successor will be an important one. And I know that it will produce an outstanding new champion for the international community of the wounded, injured and sick. I look forward to passing the baton to them and to continuing to support this great movement.

Once a member of the Invictus family, you never leave.