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Students
march to the volunteers drum.
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The race to become an Olympic Volunteer
starts now
China's Olympic athletes hope to dazzle the nation with a record
haul of medals at the Beijing Games in 2008, but another race
to bring a smile to the host city has just commenced. This month
sees the official launch of the recruitment campaign for Olympic
Volunteers. Hundreds of thousands of candidates hope to cross
the finish line with a post – and the honor of serving the
biggest and most significant international event their country
has ever hosted.
In all, there are 100,000 posts to be filled for the run-up to
and the duration of the Beijing Olympic Games. Seventy thousand
volunteers are needed for the Summer Olympic Games, and a further
30,000 are to serve at the Paralympics. Tasks range from interpretation
and tour guiding to the provision of first-aid services. But above
all, the volunteers will be charged with communicating the spirit
of the Olympics, and the charm of Beijing, to every participant
from spectator to gymnast. As Liu Qi, Party Secretary of Beijing
CPC Committee, put it, “The sweet smile of a Beijing Olympic
Volunteer is the best name card of Beijing. [The volunteers will]
interpret their own understandings of the Olympic spirit and leave
a unique spiritual legacy to the Olympic Movement.”
Though applications are welcome from “all over the Chinese
mainland, compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and people
from overseas,” it’s likely that the bulk of volunteers
will be drawn from Beijing’s student community. After all,
these keen young students know the city well, and their enthusiasm
is a vital quality for volunteer work. Volunteer hopeful Zhao
Kuan says, “Passion is just as important as skill. Volunteers
must work long hours for little financial reward. Remuneration
is the sense of pride that volunteers will feel having served
at the Beijing Games.”
That sense of pride is what drove most candidates to apply in
the first place. “We are not seeking personal benefits,”
says applicant Liu Yingying. “Volunteering for the Olympics
is first and foremost about serving your country. It is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity.” However, volunteers can hope to gain from the
experience. Zhao Kuan says, “I am doing a post-grad in corporate
management. I’m pretty sure that volunteering will improve
my organizational ability, and therefore benefit my career in
the long run.”
There is massive interest in and keen competition for volunteer
posts. Li Yilin interned with the Beijing Organizing Committee
for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), where she was, “inundated
with calls from people from home and abroad seeking information
about the application procedure.” So it helps if candidates
have relevant volunteering experience. Yao Ling has exactly that
– she volunteered for the 2001 Students Olympiad in Beijing.
Yao Ling says, “It gave me a taste of taking part in a large-scale
sporting event. It was hard work, but I enjoyed every minute of
it.” Yao is hoping that recruiters will take her experience
into account. Those who have volunteered for their student unions
should also find themselves on the shortlist. Zhang Wei says,
“I have some years’ experience serving on my student
union. I’m in charge of student services, so I feel I have
developed a special instinct in terms of reading and responding
to people’s needs.”
Volunteers will perform a phenomenal range of tasks at the Olympic
Games. Some posts are professional, others are non-professional,
and students are hoping they can employ their college training
as they serve. The professional posts range from medics to interpreters,
with non-professional posts including baggage handlers and waterboys.
“It also helps if you know about foreign habits, customs
and religions,” Li Yilin reasons, “as the majority of
the people volunteers will deal with will come from other countries.
But such is the enthusiasm of these young students that they will
accept any post, no matter how unglamorous it might be. Says Zhu
Yun, “It’s ideal if volunteers are posted according
to their skills and education, but the most important thing is
taking part.”
When the Games begin, the eyes of the world will turn towards
China. Those that imagine they’ll see peasants planting rice
in paddy fields are in for a shock, and the volunteers will do
all they can to present their dynamic nation in the most positive
light. “Many people around the world have yet to see China’s
development,” says Li Yilin. “The Olympics gives us
the chance to show the world what China is really like these days,
and volunteers have a very important role to play in that regard.
Each volunteer is like a window into China.”
BOCOG plans three major concepts for the Beijing Olympics: it
should be a “Green Olympics, a High-tech Olympics, and a
Humanistic Olympics,” and it is in the latter concept that
the volunteers hope to win gold. All of China’s social forces
will be involved in the “Humanistic Olympics,” and volunteers
will strive to show their country’s culture and civilization
to the world. As part of the “Humanistic Olympics,”
volunteers will ferry participants around the city to landmarks
old and new. They’ll give interesting explanations of the
history of the Great Wall, or details of the China World Trade
Center’s total annual turnover.
Some hope they’ll be part of an even wider phenomenon. Li
Xiang says, “The current volunteer system in China is not
perfect. So many Chinese want to volunteer to make a positive
difference to their society, but they don’t know how to do
it. I think the experience gained from the Beijing Olympic Volunteer
Program can be passed on to the relevant authorities, who will
then be able to build a more efficient volunteer network.”
As for the event itself, these volunteers will help add a “uniquely
Chinese touch to the Olympic Games, and leave an indelible impression
of Beijing.” Get ready to see some smiles.
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