The 31-strong Australian Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023 team has been named.
The combined ADF and Invictus Australia team will be accompanied by more than 100 family members and friends at the games from September 9-16, which will feature 22 nations, across 10 adaptive sports.
Former Australian Army medic Francine Dudfield said she felt proud and privileged to be part of this year’s team.
“Everyone in the team is really excited to be able to share such a special experience with our family and friends,” Dudfield said.
Dudfield, 37, suffers from chronic pain in her lower back that, she says, is frustrating.
“But I choose not to focus on it; instead I focus on how sport can help my rehabilitation,” she said.
“Sport has been really amazing for me and something I have done my whole life. It keeps me accountable, and more importantly helps me form connections with other people.
Dudfield will compete in powerlifting, rowing and sitting volleyball, and said she was looking forward to meeting veterans from other nations, while spending quality time with her family and friends.
“I’m taking my sister and three of my close friends with me to the games, and I am looking forward to being able to share the experience with them,” she said.
Former serving Army Private Lenny Redrose is back for his second Invictus Games after competing at last year’s games in The Hague.
“I’m absolutely stoked to be back as a senior competitor, to be able to mentor others and take them through what we did last year,” Redrose said.
When asked what the highlight of the games are for him, the 37-year-old said he loved seeing people break their own barriers.
“You see people do things they never thought they could do, and once they do, they are blown out of the water with what they can achieve,” he said.
Redrose, who is a recovered ice addict following a spinal injury that left him without function in his lower body, acknowledges sport as the reason he was able to turn his life around.
“If I didn’t have sport in my life, I would probably still be using drugs and living a very different life to the one I am now,” he said.
“Without sport, fitness and wellbeing I wouldn’t be where I am, so it’s been massive for me.”
The Invictus Games is an international adaptive sporting event for serving and former serving defence personnel. The games use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation, and generate a wider understanding and respect for wounded, injured and ill servicemen and women.
Competitors will compete in individual and team sports, including archery, athletics, indoor rowing, powerlifting, road cycling, sitting volleyball, swimming, table tennis, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby.
