Olympic Feature: Volunteering at the Olympic Games

3,500 staff and volunteers will be working during the eight-day Olympic Rowing Regatta, when they will be tasked with ensuring the smooth running of the event for the 30,000 spectators, 549 athletes and their support teams. For the volunteers, or Games Makers as they are known, they have given up their time and travelled from all over the UK to be part of the regatta.

Like the athletes, many of the Games Makers have been preparing for a long time. Kathryn Howe, who is working on the Athlete Services Team, volunteered at the 2006 Rowing World Championships and 2011 Junior World Rowing Championships, both held at Eton Dorney. She applied to work at the Olympic Games almost two years ago, and is delighted to be able to work in her preferred sport, rowing.

Volunteers are performing a wide range of jobs, from renting the 180 BMW bikes out to coaches, to distributing ice for ice baths, to checking accreditation at key check points, to monitoring water safety.

One of the most sought-after jobs is at the Athlete Bag Drop, where four women aged 18-20 will be regularly manning the desk, “It’s pretty cool, you see all the athletes on the TV then they come here and are chatting to you. It’s been good fun so far.” One of the volunteers went on to say, “It’s quite unbelievable to just be here and think, ‘Oh, wow, they are actually racing in the Olympics!’”

The majority of the Games Makers have a connection to rowing. They include a former coastal rower from the Channel Islands, the secretary of a popular UK regatta and the British Rowing National Coaching Committee Chair. The other trait that they have in common is an overwhelming sense of pride at being involved in this once in a lifetime event.