Welcome to The Tokyo 2020 Olympics
How can I help you?
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics have finally started, and as a volunteer, I have done a variety of jobs. These roles have provided an opportunity to get backstage, and have been a lot of fun. I have welcomed guests, checked temperatures, and served as an assistant to one of the regulatory teams. I’ve distributed tickets for the opening ceremonies and given out hundreds of smiles.
In all of those interactions — from assisting Olympic officials and medical professionals to helping other volunteers feel more comfortable working in English, I’ve shared a lot of joy. Everyone I’ve talked with expresses the same hope: That the Olympics brings a dose of happiness to the world. This is a chance to share a universal smile to an otherwise melancholy world.
It has been more than 16 months since we experienced our first lockdown here in Tokyo. Generally, it seems that people become a little more spiteful, anxious, and weary of the future with each passing day. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is a chance to change all of that. For the world to unite in sport and cultural acceptance, sharing moments at the world’s biggest event is a much-needed blessing.
Friday the 23rd was my most exciting day so far. The assignment for the day was distributing phones and opening ceremony tickets to the national Olympic committee leaders.
There were several of us doing this job. Some wanted to have roles front and center. However, I chose to work as support, collecting completed forms and exchanging those for tickets. It was way more fun having the opportunity to interact informally with the international guests, staff, and our manager. His and the other managers’ responsibilities and operations protocols seem to change by the minute.
Occasionally, everyone looked frustrated, though thankfully not at the same time, and it was fun to jump in and act as a liaison during those stressful situations.
I was able to bounce around and helped an Olympic President from Africa arrange her transportation and sort out an issue acquiring her volunteer assistant. I talked to a dignitary from Panama about their best hope for a medal, boxing, and helped a tall handsome Middle Eastern man, these people are all or once were world-class athletes, get the rules changed so he could pick up tickets for his bosses. I think that any conversation that starts with, “How can I help you?” is bound to end with a positive outcome. I get to do this numerous times every day.
As you watch the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, look for the volunteers. We are the ones in the blue checked shirts that say Tokyo 2020 on the back. You will see a lot of us supporting the games. If you watched carefully, you may even have seen a couple of us carrying national flags for small countries with just a handful of athletes. At most events, you will see us in a variety of support roles.
It’s such a unique opportunity to volunteer here and I am grateful to be able to share these stories with you.
More coming soon.
ILLUMINATION-Curated, ILLUMINATION, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Brian E. Wish, PhD, Dr Ron Pol, Dr Michael Heng, Dr John Rose, Paul Myers MBA, Karen Madej, Joe Luca, Dipti Pande, Kevin Buddaeus, Kate Maxwell, Arthur G. Hernandez, Bill Abbate, Michael Patanella, Aurora Eliam, CMP, René Junge, Geetika Sethi, Ahmed Jamal, Britni Pepper, Selma, Earnest Painter, Dew Langrial, B. A. Cumberlidge. Lanu Pitan, Agnes Laurens, EP McKnight, MEd, CR Mandler MAT, The Maverick Files, Sumera Rizwan, Liam Ireland, Neha Sandhir S, Desiree Driesenaar, Stuart Englander, Ntathu Allen, Thewriteyard, Haimish Mead, Maria Rattray, Cristo Lopez, PhD, Dr. Preeti Singh, Holly Kellums, Tree Langdon, Kristina Segarra, Yohanan Gregorius, The Dozen, Audrey Malone,janny’s heart, Sabana Grande, Jennifer Friebely, Zen Chan, Aamir Kamal 🚀🚀🚀, John Cunningham, [arlie] PEYTON, Terry L. Cooper
