100 days to go as heroes get set for the Invictus Games

Today marks just 100 days to go until Prince Harry opens the first-ever Invictus Games in London.

The prince hopes the competition, which starts on September 10, will recognise the sacrifices made by those wounded fighting for their country.

Competitors hoping to take part are now in intensive training to be ready for the international event.

One of them, Mike Goody, who had his left leg amputated below the knee after a roadside IED blast while serving in Afghanistan in 2008, told the Standard how sport has been crucial to his recovery.

Mike, who also had shrapnel injuries, said: “I was blown up, rolled a few times, crushed by my vehicle and then trapped for three and a half hours.

“I couldn’t get around on the land too well, but any water-based sport I was all over. I took up kayaking, water skiing, anything that put me in the water. I could always use swimming as a tool, and it played a massive role in my rehabilitation.”

He admires Olympic swimmers such as Mark Foster and Ian Thorpe, and now plans to make a splash himself in the Aquatics Centre pool which hosted the world’s best swimmers at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and will host the swimming events for the Invictus Games.

It will be the first time he has participated in an international competition since he represented British police in 2005.

He has also swum the Channel to raise money for Help For Heroes, as well as completed half-marathons, Iron Men contests and other sport events, and hopes the Invictus Games “can inspire people from different backgrounds, not just the forces, to do something more with themselves”.

Invictus is Latin for unconquered, embodying the fighting spirit of wounded Servicemen and women and what they can achieve after their injuries. The Games are also at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Lee Valley Athletics Centre. Tickets are £12.85 (invictusgames.org).