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The Sussexes

Gearing up for the Invictus Games 2016

This year’s Invictus games are just around the corner! With the opening ceremony set to take place on the evening of Sunday May 8th the Invictus games are all set to be bigger and better than ever. This year will be the second ever Invictus Games, the first being held in London in 2014, with more competitors and participating countries the games are sure to be a success.

The games are being held in Orlando, Florida at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex May 8-12. Tickets for this year’s games are still available on the official Invictus Games website. The opening ceremony will include James Blunt and Laura Wright along with other surprise guests. First Lady Michelle Obama is set attend the festivities.

The games will begin on Monday May 9th at 8 a.m. with powerlifting finals until 11:00 a.m., cycling finals from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., rowing finals from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30p.m and archery finals from 7:30 p.m. to 10:00.

They will continue on Tuesday May 10th with track & field finals at 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., sitting volleyball semi-finals from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., concluding the day with the sitting volleyball gold and bronze medal matches at 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

On Wednesday May 11th with games will begin with the swimming finals at 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., wheelchair rugby semifinals from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., wheelchair tennis semifinals at 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., concluding the day with the wheelchair rugby gold and bronze medal matches at 7:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

The last day of the events, Thursday May 12th, will begin at 8:00 a.m. with the wheelchair tennis finals concluding at 10:00 a.m., wheelchair basketball semifinals from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The games will finish out with the wheelchair basketball gold and bronze medal matches 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. with closing ceremony that evening.
The closing ceremony for the games will include performances by Rascal Flatts, Flo Rida, and Rachel Platten singing her hit song “Fight Song”. Orlando will close out the games with a “Pass the Flag” to the host of the 2017 Invictus Games Toronto, Canada.

This year the games will include 500 competitors from 15 countries and 11 competitive events. The participating countries this year are Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Iraq, Jordan, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, with the competitions being archery, driving competition, indoor rowing, power lifting, road cycling, sitting volleyball, swimming, track & field, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis.

The games are honoured to have many partners and supporters this year. Partners for this year’s games include Walt Disney World Resort, Fisher House Foundation, Sage, The Coca Cola Company and Jaguar Land Rover, who is holding their own driving challenge as a competition in the games this year. This year’s supporters are, Morgan Freeman, Derek Hough, Allison Janney, Katherine Jenkins OBE, Shawn Johnson, Tim McGraw, Mike Myers and Conan O’Brien.

This year’s games are sure to be a success with all of amazing games and entertainment. Prince Harry seems to be really excited and glowing with pride in the games, “No one wants sympathy. All they want is an opportunity to prove themselves, and that’s what this is all about”, Prince Harry said of the games.

Next year’s games are to be held in Toronto, Canada and will feature more competitors, nations and sports, such as ice events, than the previous two games.