The summer of 2024 is an unforgettable experience in Paris. I signed up as a volunteer for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and carried out seven days of volunteer activities, which became a beautiful scenery in my school life and left me with infinite good memories. The rush to leave early and return late, and the fatigue of eight hours of continuous work, dissipated in the unity and cooperation with teammates rain or shine and the celebratory high-fives after the mission was completed. When I received two certificates from the President of the Olympic Committee, it was worth it in an instant!

Application Process

In February 2023, I went on a double degree exchange from the École des Excellence des Engineers in Paris, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, to École Polytechnique. Soon after arriving, I saw that the Olympic Organizing Committee had opened applications for volunteers. I am fluent in Chinese, English, French and Spain, enjoy sports, and have experience volunteering at the Shanghai Marathon, so I feel like I fit. So I submitted my application with the mindset of giving it a try. The application process was simple, I wrote a short introduction of myself, filled in some basic information, and entered the long wait. From spring to autumn, I was finally promoted from an alternate seat to a Paralympic volunteer and then to an official Olympic volunteer, becoming one of the lucky 15%.

After being selected, training work followed. After the online and offline training, one weekend in July, I traveled across Paris to the volunteer center, where I took a photo of my ID and received my badge and uniform. And so my Olympic volunteer journey began......

According to reports, more than 300,000 people around the world have applied for 45,000 Paris Olympic volunteer positions, of which 20% are non-France volunteers from 150 countries, and about 2,000 Chinese volunteers are said to have volunteers. I was fortunate to be one of them, wearing a teal volunteer costume and contributing to the Paris Olympics, which was both fortunate and joyful. Of course, with that comes toil and all sorts of unexpected challenges.

Volunteering at the Olympics

In the summer of 2024, I have a 12-week internship according to the school's arrangement. In order to get involved in volunteer work, I started my internship on June 4 as soon as I finished my exams, so that I could fully devote myself to volunteering for the Paralympic Games at the end of August. Since I was still doing an internship during the Olympics, I signed up for two weekends of volunteer positions.

On the first weekend, I was assigned to a mountain biking program on a hill on the outskirts of Paris. Although the game did not start until 2 p.m., we were asked to be on duty by 12 noon to help maintain order. On that day, because the bus was out of service during the race, I got up early, hiked down the hill to take the subway, and walked another half hour to reach the post. After arriving at the post, after getting to know each other with the volunteers in the same group, the team leader assigned us specific tasks. As the crowds on both sides of the road grew, we gradually got busy. We need to pull a cordon to stop everyone from jaywalking, remind everyone to keep a distance from the curb, and deal with some emergencies at any time. Although the athletes rode their bicycles in front of us, it only took 5 minutes from beginning to end, but all the spectators and volunteers on the scene were busy and worked hard all afternoon, and when the competition was over, the team leader held a meeting for us to announce the disbandment, and I walked down the mountain to take the subway, and then climbed the mountain back to school, it was already more than 8 o'clock in the evening. On this day, I was out for twelve hours from the time I left to the time I returned.

This is the first time I have felt the enthusiasm of the local audience for sports, even if the competition is far away from the city, even if it is not a very popular event, people still cheer for every competitor with the greatest passion. And every volunteer traveled long distances, stuck to their posts, tired and happy.

Paralympic volunteering

On August 30th, my internship ended, and I was able to devote myself to volunteering for the Paralympics. My job is in the cycling arena north of Paris, and I live in the south, so I leave early and return late every day, and travel to my post by multiple means of transport.

The Paralympic cycling race is a lap race, and we have more opportunities to meet the competitors. Some of these athletes can't see, some can't hear, and some of their legs are paralyzed or even missing. At that moment, I was touched by their determination and tenacious struggle, and I truly felt the spirit of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-improvement, and self-reliance.

What I didn't expect was that there were even more spectators at the Paralympic venue than at the Olympics, and they were even more enthusiastic. They spontaneously formed a variety of cheerleading squads to cheer for the athletes they supported, and there were many groups of relatives and friends who came from afar to cheer for their warriors. One day it rained, but it didn't dampen everyone's enthusiasm in the slightest. At that moment, I felt the purity and love of sports, they are all champions who challenge themselves and go beyond their limits.

Harvest and insight

Looking back on this experience, volunteering has not only improved my teamwork skills, but also taught me to be open and tolerant by communicating with people from all over the world. As a volunteer, I feel honored to be able to contribute to such a global event. Inspired by the Olympic spirit, I deeply feel the strength of my motherland, which brings us more international stage and respect. In the future, I hope to have more opportunities to participate in international activities and continue to contribute my strength to the world!

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