Summertime in Nanjing can be daunting. But the city’s 20,000 ‘‘Little Limes’’ are working long hours to keep thousands of athletes, government officials and members of the media smiling in spite of the sticky summer heat.
‘’Little limes’’ is the name given to the volunteers of the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympics, dressed in distinctive green attire, that are seemingly everywhere to lend a helping hand.
A total of 20,000 volunteers were recruited to cover 400 positions in areas including spectator services, competition organisation, food and beverages, medical services and NOC services.
The volunteer recruitment drive was launched in October 2013 and a total of 103,000 people submitted their applications online. After 30 interviews, some 18,000 locals were recruited, together with 2,000 from other regions of China and overseas.
“We planned to include 20,000 volunteers in the Youth Olympic Games and we were successful in recruiting 20,000 volunteers,” said volunteer department director Shan Xiaofeng (CHN).
“We had to enroll so many volunteers. We felt it was difficult as they had to work in the summer and would not get paid. However, we got 103,000 applications. Most of the applications were from local universities. From every six applications we chose one volunteer. We were moved by their enthusiasm.”
The volunteers went through four phases of training: orientation training, specialised training, job training and participating in validation exercises.
“We highlighted knowledge about fire control, first aid and underwent venue training. We ensured that the volunteers knew about the functional areas they would be working in. We also educated them on team structure and sports,” said volunteer department assistant director Wang Peng (CHN).
The Organising Committee also devised an incentive system to keep the young volunteers happy.
“We took measures to motivate the volunteers and gave them a number of incentives. We held a number of cultural activities to make them communicate better and develop team spirit,” said volunteer department deputy director Lin Wuping (CHN).
