An incredible honor and a great challenge. That’s how Sechelt-based family doctor Paul Dhillon summed up his appointment to the top position with the medical team with the seventh Invictus Games, to be held in Vancouver and Whistler, Feb. 8 to 16, 2025.
His appointment to the staff of the games, in which wounded, injured and sick service members and veterans compete in a range of athletic events, was announced via press release on Sept. 6. In that statement, chief operating officer of the Games Robyn McVicker stated Dhillon, who is also a Canadian Armed Forces Reserve major, was chosen for his “incomparable experience and leadership." In McVicker’s view “competitors, their family & friends, our workforce and attending supporters are in the best of hands with his [Dhillon’s] oversight of the planning and delivery of medical support at the Games.”
“I'm looking forward to bringing together all of the different aspects of my medical professional and military experiences to ensure that the participants from all over the world have an incredible experience here in our home province. There are going to be up to 550 competitors from up to 25 Nations attending the games,” Dhillon told Coast Reporter.
“It's a very unique medical audience and the complexities and challenges of having both mental and physical disabilities that the competitors have overcome, overlaid with the challenge of winter sports, and competing in multiple sports while wearing your Nation's flag make this an incredibly unique experience.” He said the medical team’s goal will be to ensure the competitors are able to compete at the highest level they can."
For his group, it is Dhillon’s opinion that “a gold medal performance is to fully deliver on the Games’ medical support requirements, so that competitors can laser-focus on their sports and their path to recovery along with their families and friends, and all participants can enjoy the Games knowing we’re here if needed.”
Details on the Games
2025 will mark the first winter Invictus Games. Competitions scheduled to be part of next year’s event include Alpine skiing and snowboard, Nordic skiing, biathlon, skeleton and wheelchair curling, as well as core Invictus Games sports of indoor rowing, sitting volleyball, swimming, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball. The games support the recovery and rehabilitation of international wounded injured and sick service personnel and veterans through sport.
The Invictus Games Foundation was established following the success of the first Invictus Games in London in 2014, with the aim of spreading the Invictus Spirit worldwide. The foundation governs the delivery of the Invictus Games, runs an online community (We Are Invictus) and provides year-round sport recovery and adventurous challenge opportunities beyond the Games across 23 nations. Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, is patron of the Invictus Games Foundation and founder of the Invictus Games and is reported to be scheduled to attend the 2025 edition.
Coast Reporter asked Dhillon if he anticipated there may be an opportunity to meet the Duke or Duchess of Sussex Meghan during his assignment. “During the games I will be 100% committed to ensuring top notch medical care is being provided. In the past I have met Prince Edward when I was awarded the Gold Duke of Edinburgh's award in Vancouver many years ago,” Dhillon said. So celebrity sighting is definitely a lower priority for Dr. Dhillon.
