Olympics 2024: Paris is looking for volunteers

Olympic rings in front of Paris City Hall. AFP - BEHROUZ MEHRI

Text by: Christophe Diremszian Follow

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They are an essential component of the success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games for those who will experience them up close. 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.

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Anyone who has attended or participated in an 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. The volunteers embody the image that will leave the organization of a major sports competition. Paris 2024 will select 45,000, 15,000 of which 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 of age 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 society

The constitution of the number of volunteers will take one year. "The goal is to have an inclusive team," says Tony Estanguet, president of Paris 2024. "We are aiming for parity, 3,000 people with disabilities, volunteers who will come from the sports movement and host territories throughout France. Everyone has a chance." Including employees of Paris 2024's business partners, pre-selected by their respective companies. Upon registration, candidates will have to fill out a (long) questionnaire to pre-direct them to a mission according to their desires and availability. But nothing definitive, it is indeed a dedicated team of the organizing committee that will carry out the arbitrations between May and August. Lucky winners and rejects will be notified between September and December. Successful candidates will receive training starting in Q1 2024.

Based on recent editions of the Olympic Games, the OCOG expects to receive between 120,000 and 160,000 applications. Not everyone will 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 realize an old desire. "I've had this idea in mind for a long time, 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 thought I wanted to be a part of it one day. I would like to be able to accompany athletes, to be on swimming, but athletics also interests me. Beware, however, of dashed 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 of reception of the public or the media, the rest will take care of tasks of "fluidification" such as the distribution of equipment to the actors of the Games (radios, helmets, uniforms ...) or the installation on the sites of small communication equipment.

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Volunteers... and not paid

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 ticket if they come from far away, nor their accommodation. Only local public transport and one meal per day will be covered by the organization. Without a good plan for housing, 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, reminds us how valuable their help is at all times. "At the Tokyo Paralympics, it was raining ropes the last week, and we needed someone to take our chairs to training. The volunteers were all there to help us, to carry umbrellas, which we 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, volunteers will not be people who can be cut and worked at will. The lucky ones will sign a charter stipulating their rights and working conditions: maximum 10 hours per day and 48 hours per week, with a weekly day of rest. 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 beautiful memory and a beautiful experience.

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• Olympics 2024
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