Team New Zealand
Team Website

Team New Zealand

Team New Zealand is excited to be back at the Invictus Games. We are sending a 21-strong team to compete in Düsseldorf, along with coaches and support staff. Our team consists of both serving and ex-serving members, including veterans, of the New Zealand Defence Force.

Team New Zealand is competing in nine of the ten sports at this years Games. With the largest proportion of our team competing in Archery and the two Wheelchair sports.

Many from around the world will know New Zealand is famous for its haka, a ceremonial Māori war dance or challenge. Our team has a specially created haka for Invictus named Ngā Mātātoa – Unconquered. In 2017 the Toronto team debuted the Invictus haka in Canada. The haka, written by former team member Darren O’Callaghan, is inspired by the Invictus Poem written by William Ernest Henley in the late 19th Century.

“Ko au te Rangatira o taku aitu, o taku wairua” – “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul”.

Team New Zealand 2023
Our Co-Captains Buffy & Bob

Sports we are competing in:

  1. Archery – 12 people
  2. Athletics – 6 people
  3. Cycling – 4 people
  4. Rowing – 9 people
  5. Powerlifting – 5 people
  6. Swimming – 3 people
  7. Table Tennis – 11 people
  8. Wheelchair Basketball – 14 people
  9. Wheelchair Rugby – 11 people

Our Team

Our team motto is ‘Ngā Mātātoa – Unconquered’

The Düsseldorf Games will be special for this New Zealand Team with the majority having been selected back in 2019 for the 2020 The Hague Games, which then went on to run in 2022. The decision not to send a team to the last Games was made in mid-2021 and was due to the uncertainty of Covid-19 pandemic and the boarder restrictions for our country, we simply didn’t know what the next year would bring. Those who were selected for The Hague were offered preferential selection to attend the Düsseldorf Games in Germany. Our team is looking forward to reconnecting with our Invictus whānau from around the world.

More about Team New Zealand

Learn more about Team New Zealand here: https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/media-centre/news/invictus-games-2023-meet-our-nz-team/

Learn more about Team New Zealand competitor stories here: https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/media-centre/story-collections/invictus-games-2023/