Twenty years in the RAF, rising to the rank of Group Captain. Chief Executive of GB Snowsport. Chair of GB Surfing. Custodian of the Rugby Centurions. Board Director for Aintree Racecourse. Winter Sports Advisor and British Olympic Association board member. Wife and mother of three children aged 20, 14 and 11. Golfer. Tennis player. Spanish speaker.
“If you want something done, ask a busy person,” Benjamin Franklin, one of the US Founding Fathers, once famously said.
Which makes Vicky Gosling OBE the obvious choice for Chair of the Invictus Games Birmingham 2027, particularly given her pedigree in this space: she was CEO of the Invictus Games in Orlando in 2016, and now as Chair she is guiding Helen Helliwell, CEO of the Birmingham Games.
How do you balance family life with such a full professional life?
“I steer the ship with a gentle hand on the tiller,” says Vicky, speaking to WM News from her home in South Oxfordshire.
From anyone else that might sound like an exec coaching sound bite, but from Vicky it’s genuine. Part of the warmth and credibility which result in her being continually hired for big gigs like this one.
“I’m always available, always present, but I pick great people to work with, really competent people, people who are better than me. I create a sense of trust … Oh, and I have an amazing husband.”
Vicky first met Christopher Gosling OBE at Wimbledon playing tennis for the RAF. Sport and service were in the mix from the get-go.
What is the vision for the Invictus Games Birmingham 2027?
“We want it to be, and we believe it will be, the best Invictus Games ever because we are having it in one of the world’s best cities, Birmingham. I love the diversity of Birmingham and it is already a proven stage for world-class sporting events [2022 Commonwealth Games], but more than that – Birmingham is the UK’s centre for our wounded military personnel,” says Vicky.
There’s another reason why Birmingham is perfect for the Invictus Games – and come the event it’ll mean there isn’t a dry eye anywhere in the Midlands
Owing to the volume of soldiers wounded in Afghanistan admitted to it between 2009 and 2011, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham cemented its reputation as a world-class treatment centre, with Fisher House, the private recovery haven for injured men and women and their families, on the QE site. After treatment at the QE and recovery in Fisher House, the typical journey then involves rehab at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, in Loughborough, also in the Midlands.
“The Invictus Games’ link to the Midlands is so powerful. So many injured men and women recovered here – and now they’re going to complete the cycle and compete here.”
Are there any obvious barriers to success?
In a word, no.
“The main thing is raising the money we need to deliver a great Games,” says Vicky, who explains that, while the Birmingham games are underwritten by the government, she and the team ideally do not want to draw down on that.
What’s next?
This Thursday, July 10, will be two years exactly before the opening ceremony of the 2027 Invictus Games, which will run until July 17.
The NEC has been secured as its base venue, on the edge of the city near the airport.
“We want to exceed what’s gone before. As well as government and celebrities, we want the backing of the people of Birmingham and its businesses,” adds Vicky.
“We want the ripples from these games to be the biggest we have ever seen, and we’re confident they will be.”
