Volunteer at the Olympics

Posted by Shelley Worsley ,
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Back in 2011 I wrote a post about volunteering for the Olympics. Well some of you already know but I was offered a role and assigned to the Accreditation Team of the Athletes Village and I remember jumping and screaming with excitement when I found out.  I have done bits of volunteer work but for someone like me who loves sports, I knew this was going to be a unique experience.

The accreditation team at the athlete’s village – a group of around 30 volunteers – was responsible for all the athletes and official’s accreditation passes. We were the first stop for every athletes and official on their arrival to the village. We would check their ID, take their photo and print out their pass making sure it was validated and they were able to access the venues they needed to.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I started my role in July 2012 a couple of weeks before the Olympics as all the athletes were arriving then. My very first exciting moment was printing and laminating The QUEENS accreditation badge along with other royals. I didn’t meet the queen as a member of staff collected all their passes. I did however meet some famous athletes: - Tom Daley, Usain Bolt and the England Football Team being a few.
 

Before and after my shifts I was allowed to look around the village. There was always something going on in the village plaza where the shops were. In the post office you could have your picture put on a stamp, have your nails done in the salon and freely wander around with all the athletes. Each country would have a welcoming ceremony with the National Theater performing and the countries national anthem playing while the flag was being raised. I loved this idea, as this would be the only experience of their national anthems being played.

 

 


 The Olympic village accommodated more than 17,000 athletes and officials with 11 accommodation blocks as well as shops, restaurants, gyms, and even its own hospital! The atmosphere was buzzing all the time and the experience was amazing.

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Become a Postcrosser

Posted by Shelley Worsley ,
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Postcrossing is an online organization were your can send and receive postcards from around the world. It is free to sign up and you just need to send a postcard to receive one.

I first sent a postcard in September 2011 to New York USA and it took 8 days, which I think is a miracle lol. You can send up to 5 at a time to start off with so I received addresses for Germany, Netherlands, Taiwan and Belarus.

Postcards I'v sent


 
 
Once you have sent out your postcards you have to wait for the receiver to register the postcard and then your address gets given to someone random. I am quite an impatient person so waiting to receive a postcard was hard.

After nearly a month of waiting a received 3 postcards on the same day, so I guess it was worth the wait. Since then I have been sending and receiving postcards from around the world and connecting to people from all walks of life.

Postcards i've recieved
 
 

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Visit the Olympic Museum in Lausanne

Posted by Shelley Worsley ,
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It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of the Olympic games, so when I travelled to Switzerland I knew I had to visit the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. When the Olympics is on I am glued to the TV watching every sport out there from Equestrian to High Diving, from Basketball to Archery.

So when I found myself in the Olympic Museum, I was ecstatic. Why is there an Olympic Museum in Lausanne? you might ask (just like I did). Well, it turns out that this hilly city on the coast of Lake Geneva is the home of the International Olympic Committee.

The Olympic Museum in Lausanne is the Olympic Museum. The grounds of the museum are beautifully manicured with statues relevant to the Olympics, the Olympic flame and marked Olympic records (such as a pole indicating the highest high jump).

When I arrived I purchased an audio set as it goes into a lot more detail about the exhibits you are looking at.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The first exhibit is packed with historical memorabilia including a gold, silver and bronze medal from the Sydney Olympics. There is also an entire display of all the Olympic medals from every Olympic game. The next section, one of my favorites, was a huge display of every Olympic torch from the very beginning up until the 2008 Beijing torch. Each was is surprisingly very different from one another and each has a story behind it. The London Olympic torch was not displayed as I visited before the games, but it has to be my favorite for many reasons. It was designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby and the 8,000 holes within the design represent the number of people involved within the Torch Relay around the UK.

 
The second floor is packed with equipment, clothing and shoes used and worn by former Olympians. Some of my favorite pieces were Michaels Phelps swimming trucks from Athens 2004 and Venus Williams’s winning tennis shoes from Sydney 2000.

There is a timeline that shows how world history has aligned with Olympic history, including the death of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team during the Munich games of 1972 and the 1980 Olympic boycott to the games in Moscow because of the country’s choice to invade Afghanistan. One section of the museum is also dedicated to the fight against doping.

Rotating exhibits also make an appearance at the museum. I wandered through Athletes and Science, which focused on the advances in technology and how that has changed the Olympic Games. There was also a section on the chemistry of an athlete’s body, which invited guests to participate in experiments of memory, reaction time and other essential skills Olympic athletes need. There was a lot of school groups in at the time I was there so all the activities were occupied by children!

I had a fantastic time at the museum and would recommend it to any Olympic Fan!

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