Ninety athletes will represent Team USA in the Invictus Games, the largest wounded warrior competition of the year, beginning Saturday in Toronto.
Here’s what you need to know about the event, its origins and the American squad.
How it began
Prince Harry poses with Romania’s Team athletes during a pre-Invictus Games training session at Pan Am Sports Centre on Sept. 22 in Toronto, Canada. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images) The Invictus Games were founded by Prince Harry after he saw U.S. service members competing in the Warrior Games, which is put on by the Defense Department, in similar events designed around the athlete’s disabilities. The Invictus Games’ mission is about using “the power of sport to change lives,” according to an August press release from the foundation. “Although fiercely competitive, its main intention is to be a milestone on the road to recovery.”
The Toronto games will be the third year the event has been held. The first games were held in London in 2014 and continued in Orlando, Florida, in 2016.
Who’s competing
This year’s games will be held from Sept. 23 through Sept. 30, with 17 nations sending teams of wounded