Invictus Games: Battle to the Start Line
Injured war veteran BERNIE BROAD reveals how Prince Harry’s Invictus Games helped to change his life
DOCUMENTARY BBC1 HD, 5.35pm Ahead of next week’s Invictus Games, hosted by Toronto, competitors reveal how the event has changed their lives.
NEW PROFILE Invictus: Battle to the Start Line Sunday, BBC1 HD, 5.35pm
ON 29 NOVEMBER 2009, while serving with the Grenadier Guards in Afghanistan, Major Bernie Broad’s life took a devastating turn when an improvised explosive device blew up his lorry.
The soldier needed to have both his legs amputated below the knee and, after almost five years of rehabilitation, he was medically retired from the Army in 2014.
‘At the time of the explosion, I tried to pretend that everything was OK,’ says Bernie. ‘But once I retired it smacked me in the face and I realised I had to become the new me.’
THE HEALING FACTOR
Now, three years after leaving the Army, Bernie is taking part in the third Invictus Games in Toronto, which begin next week. The Games, which were founded by Prince Harry, see sick and wounded members and veterans of the armed forces from across the world compete in a variety of sports.
Bernie is one of four members of the UK team whose moving stories feature in the BBC1 documentary Invictus: Battle to the Start Line.
The 51-year-old says the decision to apply to take part in the Games had an immediate impact on him.
‘I’d always been into sport, but I forgot how good it is for you both psychologically and physically,’ he says. ‘A bit of me was missing and the Invictus Games brought it back.’
As well as competing in golf, wheelchair rugby and swimming at the Games, Bernie will be captain of the 90-strong UK team. However well he does in Toronto, he says one of the highlights of the experience so far has been meeting Prince Harry at the launch of the Games at the Tower of London back in May.
‘He is such a genuine person and so down-toearth. He has been through the services himself so he just gets it and knows how to get the best from service people,’ says Bernie. ‘We owe him a massive thank you for starting this.’