Engelstalige speech van staatssecretaris van Defensie Christophe van der Maat tijdens openingsreceptie Invictus Games

Toespraak | 15-04-2022

Good evening Duke and Duchess,

Dear athletes, family and friends,

I am so glad to see you all here this evening.

First and foremost, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Ukrainian team in particular.

The horrific war taking place in your home country leaves no one unmoved.

In the fighting, four Invictus athletes made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Serhii Karajvan...

Dmytro Oliynyk...

Sergey Smilin...

and Vladimir Motelchuk.

This news hits us all hard.

Throughout the entire Invictus community.

They were one of you.

Our thoughts and our deepest sympathy go out to their family and friends.

Lest we forget.

These terrible losses,

and a war raging on our doorstep, 

may bring us closer together than ever.

Because you know what it means to work in dangerous circumstances.

To have someone else’s back.

To fight for something that is bigger than yourself:

freedom, security, peace.

It is embedded in your military DNA.

You are able to help each other through these difficult times,

because you understand like no other, what somebody might be going through.

That is also part of what makes you invictus.

Tomorrow sees the start of the long-awaited 2020 Invictus Games.

The prospect of competing together, with power of invictus, gives us all hope and perspective.

However, the pandemic created additional hurdles along your roads to recovery.

It forced you to deal with the major disappointment of a 2-year delay,

in a time in which all of us were forced to live in greater isolation.

In a time in which we felt the distance between us growing bigger and bigger, and in which you had to hold on to what you could.

It takes courage to get back on track after setback after setback.

And you can’t do it alone. You need each other.

Your comrades, but especially your family and friends,

who are there to support you in good times and in bad.

It is incredibly valuable that they too are here with you this week.

Without them, you wouldn’t be complete.

Without them, the Games wouldn’t be complete.

I have a deep respect for your perseverance and resilience.

This really hit home with me after meeting a number of Dutch athletes last week.

One of those athletes was Captain Jan Heun.

This is him on the screen.

In 1994, he suffered a severe injury to his left leg during a firefight in Srebrenica.

A great number of surgeries followed in order to save his lower leg.

Thanks to a rehabilitation programme and specialised footwear,

Jan is able to function as before.

Thus, he was able to remain in active duty and has since carried out more missions with his disability than without it... including Iraq in 2018. 

His motto is: rather than thinking in limitations, always focus on what you can still do.

With dedication, perseverance and resilience you can, still, push on, where others stop.

Even in this week’s 1,500 metres race...

A distance he actually finds horrible, he told me.

Despite this, I’m sure his mindset will allow him to succeed. Jan is a true fighter.

Jan’s story is not an isolated case. 

Each and every one of you has their own unique story.

You share the experience of being injured or wounded. 

But you also have the shared experience of learning to overcome.

And this means something different to everyone.

It may mean, moving that little bit forward in your rehabilitation process.

Or being an example to your loved ones or your children.

Or perhaps it means helping someone over the finish line this week, because you can see that they are having a hard time.

People all over the world are watching you and cheering you on.

Your fighting spirit and resilience gives them hope and a sense of perspective.

You demonstrate that you can make what may seem impossible, possible.

You are unique, you are united...

You are invictus.

I wish you all the very best of luck, and enjoy your evening!

[And now, it is a tremendous honour to give the floor to the patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex.]