An Olympic Volunteer

The Sydney Olympics offered me an opportunity to learn more about staging a major multi-sport event and this knowledge, I felt, would stand me in good stead as I developed the media services that would be needed for our Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2002.

I also decided that working as a volunteer would give me a greater understanding of a whole range of issues, which is why I joined the ranks of those working in the front line.

But little did I suspect just how much the experience would offer me such powerful feelings and a strong sense of pride—emotions which influence the many memories that I took away with me when I left Sydney.

As a woman volunteer, I am not usually keen on uniforms, but from the moment I put on my Sydney volunteer's uniform I felt I was part of something important, something big that could well be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I immediately bonded with others in the same uniform and as we passed each other in the street dressed in our colorful outfits, we smiled and said "G'day" to each other and those greetings continued throughout the two weeks of the Olympics.

My job was as a supervisor in the Main Press Center where I managed 800 journalists' desks, the telephones, the banks of televisions and other volunteers, many of whom were media students. Our shifts were eight hours long and often overnight as the Center was open 24 hours, but we generally stayed longer out of choice as the work was important and exciting. Without us the journalists would not get their articles back to their home news desks and the stories of the emotional highs and lows of the competitors would never reach the outside world.

As volunteers, we all felt our work was a valuable contribution to the success of the Olympics and we reveled in the compliments we received. We worked hard and we had fun. We made new contacts and friends from all over the world and we learned new skills which we will never lose.

When the Olympics finished, all the volunteers—47 000 of us—were invited to take part in a parade through the streets of Sydney. Many of us did this, and thousands and thousands of people came out to cheer our efforts. Being part of that experience brought tears to many eyes.

The Olympics was marvelous, and the work I went to do is relevant and valuable to the job I do now. But the experience of being involved in such a massive event and the recognition we were given for our efforts is what I will remember forever.

Short Answer Questions

1. The author worked as ____ in the Main Press Center of the Sydney Olympics.
2. According to the author, what increased her pride in being a volunteer in the Olympics?
3. According to the passage, the shifts for the volunteers in the Main Press Center were often ____ hours long.
4. What did the author feel about the work of the volunteers to the success of the Olympics?
5. What will the author remember forever about the Olympic volunteer job?

(Keys.)