LOCOG hopes to learn from Beijing in recruiting volunteers

Paul Deighton, LOCOG chief executive officer, speaks in an interview.

(BEIJING, August 22) -- All people, especially the young, are greatly inspired in the Olympic Games. This has led me to believe that the Olympic Games are very great. Paul Deighton, chief executive of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), spoke about the Beijing Olympic Games during a press conference held at the Beijing International Media Center (BIMC) on August 22.

In commenting on China's Olympic volunteers and the younger generation, London 2012 organizers said that the volunteers at the Beijing Games had done a brilliant job. They remember clearly "the smiles of their faces trying to help us with everything we want to do." Deighton thinks highly of the enthusiasm and hospitality that volunteers offered spectators and tourists.

The London Games will recruit 70,000 volunteers for various services, roughly the same as the Beijing Games.

Deighton, while conversing with reporters at the press conference, said that LOCOG will also take advantage of the internet as a source of information.

LOCOG has not signed agreements with any internet content sponsor, though close to 70 sponsors have already expressed interest. As the British official believes the internet is the best platform for communication among youth, LOCOG is considering encouraging youth to contribute the 2012 Olympics by means of the internet. For the first time in modern Olympic history, the Beijing Games was in part sponsored by an internet service company. That is something London should learn from, said Deighton.