Morgan Freeman to feature in opening ceremony
Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman will join a star-studded cast at the opening ceremony for the 2016 Invictus Games in Orlando.
Freeman starred in the film Invictus, about South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup win, playing Nelson Mandela.
He said: "The Invictus Games are a celebration of the human spirit and I am honoured to be able to support these inspiring competitors who have embraced sport as part of their healing journey.
“I hope my fellow Americans will join me in Orlando to cheer on these magnificent men and women who are truly unconquerable, as the Invictus poem (right) says - they are the masters of their fates, they are the captains of their souls.”
Invictus Games founder Prince Harry and first lady Michelle Obama will take part in the ceremony at the ESPN Wide World of Sports on Sunday May 9th.
James Blunt, Laura Wright and Katherine Jenkins will be performing and there will be first-person narratives from injured servicemen.
More than 500 competitors from 14 countries are taking part in 10 events at the Games. There will be highlights on BBC One at 1930 BST on Monday May 9th.
Invictus (William Ernest Henley, 1875)
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
