The Invictus Games are an international sporting event for wounded, injured, sick veterans and serving personnel. Elisabeth Lee played in her first Invictus Games in 2023 and will be flying to Canada in the Invictus Games 2025 in indoor rowing and alpine snowboarding. It’s been a journey to get there, with lifelong memories made along the way.
What was your experience of military service?
A lot of my family are quite heavily involved in the forces. I finished school and thought, I don't know what I want to do, so I signed up. I joined the RAF at 18. I was a general technician, mechanical. So basically I fixed anything that didn't fly: fire engines, refuelers, generators - we fixed it all.
When you're in the forces, it's like having family. You might not like everyone, but everyone's got each other's backs.
During basic training I got a knee injury and pretended I was okay. But it became an ongoing issue that I suffered with throughout my entire service. And I have a deformity in my right arm because I broke my arm as a child. And then on top of that, I have fibromyalgia. Add them all together and the problem starts to get a bit bigger.
In 2018, I ended up being medically discharged. I'd been in for nearly 12 years. And I was very lost. It was difficult and I started to withdraw a lot from a lot of situations, socially.
What brought you to the Invictus Games?
I started trying to walk a bit more, trying to just get a little bit healthier. Then I came across the Invictus Games. It was just through an e-mail from the Royal British Legion and I thought: not sure if this is for me, but I'll find out.
What was it like to compete?
I can't really run because of my knee and my ankle, but suddenly with wheelchair basketball I could go fast, and it's exhilarating. Wheelchair rugby, on the other hand, I really like because you get to bang into people really, really hard.
I felt more like me and I was with all these people that had had a similar experience. There were points that were hard. It's not easy, but it is worth it. It is a journey that I will always be grateful for.
What are ‘gold medal moments’?
It’s your own personal recovery, your journey. You might not have the fastest time in rowing, but you know what? That's the fastest time you've ever done. So that is your gold medal moment: it's finding a way back to yourself.
My gold medal moment was a rugby game. I’d done ten training camps at most, but my teammate and I were needed to block their best player. I'm absolutely terrified, thinking I'm gonna be awful at this. But we go out there, and we do it: we block him and we ruin his game. It was amazing the entire game. That was the moment where I sat there and I thought, maybe I have got this.
How have the games changed your life?
I've made friends for life. Literally. My roommate from the last games calls my spare room her bedroom.
If I'm nervous or scared about something, my partner will say to me, "You've played basketball in front of thousands of people. If you can do that, you can do anything." And I go, "Oh, yeah!"
The other thing I've taken from it is that no matter how terrifying and new the experience is, you should give it a go because it could change your life. It could be something that you love.
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