"I was becoming an athlete again": how the Invictus Games gave a serving RAF doctor back her sport

Squadron Leader Samantha May is an RAF doctor based in Birmingham, training in emergency medicine. When an injury took away the sport she loved, the Invictus Games helped her find her way back. 

We caught up with Sam to find out what she's up to now. 

Sam joined the University Air Squadron while studying medicine at the University of Oxford, and joined the RAF after qualifying as a doctor. It was at university that she fell in love with pole vault, going on to captain the RAF Athletics Team and set the Armed Forces pole vault record. Being an athlete was a big part of who she was. 

In 2023, a pole vault injury damaged the ligaments in her knee. Surgery and complications followed, leaving Sam unable to work or compete, and feeling isolated and as though she had lost part of herself. 

While she was on a Royal British Legion recovery course, friends encouraged her to apply for Team UK for Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025. It changed everything. 

At the Games, Sam competed in swimming, skiing, skeleton and wheelchair basketball, winning medals in skiing and swimming. She had never swum competitively before, but with the backing of her coach and the Invictus community, she committed to her training, and came away with bronze in the pool. 

"When I was swimming, I was becoming an athlete again," she said. "I was able to rely on myself, which was a really empowering thing." 

The Games also gave Sam a renewed belief that she could do hard things. Back at work in the fast-paced, high-pressure world of emergency medicine, she draws on the teamwork, resilience and perseverance she built through Invictus Games. 

Outside work, she plays wheelchair basketball at National League level, a sport she says she would never have found without the Games. 

"It gives me a place where I am defined by my ability instead of my injury," she said. "I arrive here and no one asks me about my knee; I can just be myself." 

In 2027, the Invictus Games comes to Birmingham, Sam's home for more than a decade, where she has worked at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, on COVID wards and in emergency departments. She can't wait to welcome the Games to her adopted city, where more Team UK supporters than ever will be able to cheer on the competitors. She says that support will make all the difference to everyone taking part.