Olympic Volunteers: Ready to Go

“I think most Chinese people share similar feelings about the Olympic Games,” said Jiang Yuxin from Peking University Law School. The 22-year-old is a volunteer for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. “When my parents and I watched the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, I wished I could be a part of the Olympics.”

In 2008, the seeds of love and passion for the Olympics were sown in Chinese people’s hearts when the Beijing Olympic Games was watched by millions. Thus, when the Olympic flame came to Beijing again after more than a decade, many Peking University students who cheered for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games before the TV as young kids signed up to volunteer for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The National Aquatics Center, widely known as the “Water Cube,” was the venue for swimming and diving during the 2008 Olympic Games. For the 2022 Winter Olympics, it has been converted into the “Ice Cube” for curling events. In late October, the 2021 World Wheelchair Curling Championship, a test event for the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics, was held at the National Aquatics Center. From October 14 to 30, a total of 92 volunteers from Peking University completed volunteering services for the test match. Their work involved eight general programs including venue management, COVID-19 control and prevention, transportation, protection of rights, staff management, volunteer service, registration, and event services, and three professional programs including anti-doping testing, technology, as well as protocol and reception.

During her volunteer work, Liu Yuxuan, who majors in Spanish at the university’s School of Foreign Languages, departed the hotel at 6:30 a.m. and arrived at the operation room before 7 a.m. every day. She checked athletes’ arrivals and departures, competition schedules, and media readiness and recorded content of each communication group. “As a volunteer in the communication center, I had to record important things I heard via a hand-held radio and brief my supervisors with the latest developments of various matters during the games,” she said.

Liu wrapped up her work and returned to the hotel at around 11 p.m. “The event involves far more than what the TV audience sees,” she noted. “A bunch of people are working hard behind the scenes.”

Many students provided volunteering services related to their majors. “I wasn’t confident with my Russian abilities at first because I only studied the language for a year,” said Gao Yuan, who was also from the School of Foreign Languages. Gao was tasked with providing language services for athletes who spoke Russian. Overcoming shyness and building up confidence, Gao was able to communicate with native Russian speakers and provided basic language services. “Gradually, I could chat and joke with athletes and coaches in Russian,” he said. “Effortlessly engaging in casual conversations is incredibly exciting for a language learner.”

Students didn’t neglect their academic studies even during the volunteer work. Professors and lecturers from the School of Foreign Languages changed their class timings to ensure the learning of student volunteers. Gao could also watch videos of online classes to catch up on lectures. “In general, I found a way to balance the relationship between class and volunteering thanks to the support from my university.”

Students developed a deeper understanding of the volunteering work for the event after more than 10 days on the job. “I previously thought volunteers just complete assigned tasks, but I soon learned that volunteering requires diligence and patience,” said Wang Yu from the School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science. “Everyone can do a good job by applying their expertise to the volunteering work.”

The shared volunteering experience has helped students from different schools and age groups become good friends. “What could be more fun than the like-minded people working side by side towards a common goal?” Wang Rui from the School of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences had a lot to say.

The successful test run injected confidence into volunteers for the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics.