has revealed he was inspired to create
the Invictus Gamesafter seeing
a similar sporting competition for wounded servicemen and women in the US.Harry, who is
currently promoting the four-day-long tournamentahead of its launch on 10 September, said
he "stole" the idea from the Warrior Games in America.Speaking to BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans, Harry said the initial concept wasn't his idea, but that he hopes the Invictus Games will be "bigger and better".
"
[I was] happy to steal it off the AmericansI think, is probably the best way of explaining it," he said. "The Americans have had the Warrior Games now for the last four and a half, five years."They have the Navy against the R.A.F. against the Army," he added. "We went over there, I had a team of 30 UK guys that joined in with the Americans and basically saw this event take place and decided that
it was such a wonderful concept we should steal it, make it bigger, make it better and bring it back home."
While on his solo
tour of the USA in May 2013, Harry was charged with inaugurating the Warrior Games in Colorado.Never one to watch from the sidelines, the fourth-in-line to the throne
got stuck in to a game of sitting volleyballand enjoyed several other of the day's events.
During the interview with Chris Harry added that organising the games, which will take place at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London, had become his "full-time job"."The point of them [the Invictus Games] is to use the power of sport to help these guys [injured military members] through rehabilitation," he said. "It's a pathway to allow the wounded back into employment."
