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They are an essential component of the success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games for those who will experience them closely. Paris 2024 volunteers can now apply to the organizing committee, which will recruit 45,000 future elected officials for the two events. They will be required to perform a wide variety of tasks.
Anyone who has attended or participated in the Olympics has seen them in train stations, airports, stadiums. Orientation of spectators, issuance of accreditations, accompaniment of an athlete to his event or an anti-doping control, collection of balls. Volunteers embody the image that the organization of a major sports competition will leave behind. Paris 2024 will select 45,000, of which 15,000 will be dedicated to the Paralympic Games. 5,000 based on sites outside Ile-de-France, such as shooting or sailing. Candidates can register until May 3 on the paris2024.org website. Few prerequisites are required: be over 18 years old on January 1, 2024, speak French or English and be available for at least 10 days during the Olympic or Paralympic Games.
A workforce representative of the company
Building up the volunteer base will take a year. ” The goal is to have an inclusive team “, explains Tony Estanguet, the president of Paris 2024. “ We aim for parity, 3 000 people with disabilities, volunteers who will come both from the sports movement and from host territories all over France. Everyone has their chance “. Including employees of Paris 2024 commercial partners, pre-selected by their respective companies. As soon as they register, candidates will have to fill out a (long) questionnaire to pre-orient them towards a mission based on their desires and their availability. But nothing definitive, it is indeed a dedicated team from the organizing committee which will carry out the arbitrations between next May and August. Lucky elected and failed will be notified between September and December. Successful candidates will receive training starting in the 1st quarter of 2024.
Based on the latest editions of the Olympic Games, the OCOG expects to receive between 120,000 and 160,000 applications. Not everyone will therefore be served, especially since having already been a volunteer in sports events is necessarily a “plus”. But being a novice is not prohibitive and some do not want to miss the opportunity to make an old desire come true. ” It’s been a long time since I had this idea in mind, to have an impact on these Games because it’s only once in a lifetime says Tatiana, a 20-year-old student from the Paris region. ” Every time I watched the Games on TV, I told myself that I wanted to be part of it one day. I would like to be able to accompany the sportsmen, to be on the swimming, but the athletics also interests me. “Beware all the same of disappointed hopes: rubbing shoulders with the stars of the track, pools and halls will only be the privilege of 35% of recruits. 60% of them will rather carry out missions to welcome the public or the media, the rest will take care of “fluidification” tasks such as distribution equipment to the actors of the Games (radios, helmets, uniforms…) or theinstallation on the sites of small communication equipment.
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Volunteers… and not defrayed
Another aspect that candidates must keep in mind: coming and staying in their area of activity will be almost entirely at their own expense. Paris 2024 will not pay for their plane or train tickets if they come from afar, nor will they pay for their accommodation. Only local public transport and one meal per day will be covered by the organization. Without a good plan for accommodation, experiencing the Games from the inside can therefore have a cost. But there will still be the satisfaction of having been really useful, especially for para-athletes. Wheelchair tennis player Charlotte Fairbank, current French No. 3 and ambassador of the volunteer program, recalls how precious their help is at all times. ” At the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, it was raining heavily the last week, and we needed someone to take our wheelchairs to training. The volunteers were all there to help us, carry umbrellas, which you can’t do while trying to move forward. It is these small details that allow us to live our dream and a quality competition. »
Helpful and smiling, the volunteers will not necessarily be people who can be cut and drudged at will. The lucky winners will sign a charter stipulating their rights and working conditions: maximum 10 hours per day and 48 hours per week, with a weekly rest day. And there is no question of replacing professionals on sensitive missions such as Security. Being at the service of the Games must above all remain a great memory and a great experience.
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