Beijing Olympic Games need a total of 100,000 volunteers, including 70,000 for Summer Olympic Games and 30,000 for Para-Olympics. Apart from that, there will be 400,000 urban volunteers and millions of social volunteers.
At the invitation of People's Daily Online, Yan Cheng, director of Olympic Office of Beijing Colleges, and Yang Yuan, a freshman with Peking University and top prize winner of the Second Beijing College Students English Speaking Contest with the theme of "Olympics in my heart", held a video discussion on July 30 about the role for the Olympic volunteers. The program was telecast live through People's Daily Online.
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Cornerstone and legacy
Although the role of volunteers in the Olympic Games was not really recognized until the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, volunteers are generally acknowledged as the cornerstone of the great sporting event.
The Olympic Games is now widely regarded as a kind of social activity, which serves as a way to educate the youth rather than a sporting event only. The spirit of volunteers makes sense in a similar way.
When the Olympism and the purpose of volunteers share the same, there is a win-win result.
Given the large number of volunteers of the Olympics in 2008 Beijing Olympics, the whole community will be encouraged to make contributions to the society, not only for the Olympics. In China currently, the commitment from the public to become volunteers to help others still needs improving.
Yan Cheng, Director of the Olympic Office of Beijing Colleges answers questions raised by host on the subject of "Volunteers, the cornerstone of the Olympic Games" at the studio of People's Daily Online on July 30.So the promotion of the readiness of being helpful to others as volunteers will be a much more far-reaching result of the widespread public engagement into the Olympics as volunteers.
One of the projects Yan is working on is to "transform" the legacy of the spirit of Chinese volunteers into daily work for the sake of the future development of volunteers project. Training materials are part of that efforts.
Olympic volunteers: college students playing a vital role out of some 550,000 applications for volunteers from China and abroad by the end of June this year, about 230,000 are college students. That number will probably be soar after September when new students enroll.
Since the Olympic Games will attract a large number of foreign visitors, the volunteers will function as a window to the Chinese culture. They will introduce their ideas and the culture as well to foreigners.
On the other hand, the event provides volunteers a good opportunity to be exposed to the external world, the foreign culture in particular. They will also learn to work with and care for others.
College students are usually regarded as the most active group and the main source of volunteers in the society. They are supposed to become the main driving for Olympic volunteers.
Olympics volunteers are expected to offer a wide range of service, such as guides for distinguished guests, scoring computation, doping test, driving service, providing accommodation to foreign athletes and journalists and so on. Apart from those, volunteers will be assigned to some social work, for instance, maintenance of urban traffic order.
Yang Yuan, a freshman with Peking University and top prize winner of the 2nd "Olympic Games in My Heart" Beijing College Students English Speaking Contest, answers questions raised by host on the subject of "Volunteers, the cornerstone of the Olympic Games" at the studio of People's Daily Online on July 30.Of course the organizing committee will provide all the necessary training for volunteer applicants in terms of psychology, mentality, manner as well as history and culture, rather than merely the "skills".
Challenges and opportunities at the same timeTo be an Olympic volunteer means both challenges and opportunity at the same time. The experience will help them develop determination, will, and the commitment to teamwork.
In addition, they must have the ability to endure great pressure, and sometimes even misunderstanding. Furthermore, they also must have the ability of handling emergencies, that is to say, to act in accordance with the changing circumstance and to cope with the unexpectancies.
As the motto goes: volunteers' smile, Beijing's image. But the smile is expected to be sincere from the bottom of the heart, instead of a professional facial expression.
Another tough task for the volunteers is how to provide high-level service. That means you have to know when and how you can be of help. Too much engagement causes trouble. That is particularly true in the case of the Para-Olympics where proper services with respect is very important.
Not necessarily as a volunteer, but most people do not have the chance to be volunteers. And even if you apply successfully, still the position may not be there or you may choose to quit halfway.
In those cases, you still can participate into the Olympics as viewers or in any other ways. For example, you may make the environment around you better. Olympics makes us reflect on the possibility of improving our life and culture.
By People's Daily Online
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