Thousands of volunteers ready for Olympic and Paralympic Games

The scene of the press conference

Full coverage on Thousands of volunteers ready for Olympic and Paralympic Games

(BEIJING, July 16) -- On Wednesday morning, a press conference was held in the Main Press Center (MPC) where Mr. Liu Jian, chief of the office of the Beijing Olympic Volunteer Work Coordination Group briefed the audience on the progress of the volunteer program for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Shen Qianfan, deputy director of the office of the Beijing Olympic Volunteer Work Coordination Group, Li Shixin, deputy chief of BOCOG Volunteer Department, Zhang Hong, deputy chief of BOCOG Volunteer Department and Zhang Juming, deputy chief of BOCOG Volunteer Department were present to answer questions about the preparatory work of the thousands of volunteers contributing services to the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games

According to Liu, during Games-time, 100,000 volunteers will provide direct services for the Olympic and Paralympic Games at more than 30,000 positions. An additional 400,000 city volunteers have been recruited to provide information consultation, language interpretation and emergency aid services at 550 posts throughout Beijing and around Olympic venues. The first batch of city volunteers has been at work since July 1, 2008, helping out Olympic family members, spectators, tourists and a large number of city residents, Liu said.

Although volunteers of the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games come mainly from Beijing, there are also a number of volunteers that have been recruited from other Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, as well as from Hong Kong, Macao and Chinese Taipei. Some volunteers have even come from abroad.

During the period from August 28, 2006 (when volunteer recruitment was launched) through March 31, 2008 (when enrollment concluded), a total of 1,125,799 people applied to be volunteers for the Olympic Games; 908,334 of these applicants also requested volunteer work to serve the Paralympic Games.

The number of volunteers enrolled to work for the Beijing Games has set a record in Olympic history: a total of 74,615 volunteers have been recruited from 98 countries and regions. In the six co-host cities of Qingdao, Hong Kong, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao, there will be 7,600 competition volunteers.

Systematic training has been conducted for all of the Olympic and Paralympic Games volunteers, including general, professional, venue and position training. Training methods include distance, concentrated and practical techniques .

Shen informed those present at the press conference that there are six programs and one thematic activity included in the volunteer program, namely the Competition Volunteer Program, City Volunteer Program, Social Volunteer Program, "Towards the Olympics" Volunteer Service Program, Pre-Games Volunteer Program, Transformation of the Beijing Volunteer Work Legacy and the Thematic Activity of "Smiling Beijing." Such a formula is catered to allow for different time allocations for different people, so that best-fit volunteer situations may be found, Shen added.

Also present at the press conference were volunteer representatives, including Mr. Shang Muzhou, who turns 85 this August, Madam Liang Suhui, who has participated in many sports events such as the 2006 and 2007 Tennis Open, the Doha Asian Games, the 7th national games for people with disabilities in China and the Special Olympics in Shanghai, and Mr. Bruce Lerch II from America, who has just arrived at the MPC to work as a volunteer. They expressed their enthusiasm for participating in the Olympic Games as volunteers and shared with the audience their volunteer lifestyles.