When she talks about the Tokyo 2021 Games, Hiromi feels a little sad. The fifty-year-old, who has lived in Montpellier for a quarter of a century, had signed up to participate as a volunteer in the Asian Olympiad. But the Covid epidemic forced the organizers to review their plans: Hiromi had to stay in France. When in March 2023, this Japanese teacher learned that France was opening its recruitment campaign for volunteers for the Paris Games, she did not hesitate: “An opportunity like this does not come around twice in a lifetime: for me it is a way of giving back to France for everything it has given me,” smiles Hiromi, whose application was accepted to assist the taekwondo teams.
Nathalie, 48, took a week off to volunteer at the Paralympic Games at the end of the summer. This former handball player, based in Aix-les-Bains, is a sports fanatic: she chose to apply for the Paralympic Games to be sure of being able to attend different events: rugby sevens, canoeing, volleyball, table tennis, handball, 3×3 basketball, etc. In September, she will be competing alongside the Paralympic wheelchair fencing athletes at the Grand Palais in Paris: she will be in charge of securing the wheelchairs, assisting the athletes, checking accreditations, etc. “For me, it was obvious, because there is nothing above the Olympic Games for those who love sport as well as for those who do it,” she explains. Incidentally, the one who was a small volunteer hand at the 1998 Football World Cup notes the considerable progress made in organizing the work of volunteers. “Training on the Internet, videos, digitalization of formalities: I feel ready,” she assures.
Just like Fatime, 18, a young high school graduate, enrolled in her first year at university at the start of the school year. In the meantime, this Parisian, also a Taekwondo fan (red belt), will be putting herself at the service of the Olympic Games, with a specific mission: to guide the athletes on the Invalides site for the archery events. “It’s a privilege to be able to contribute to these Games, especially in Paris,” she says, proud of her city which has been transformed in the space of a few months to welcome the whole world.
Hiromi, Nathalie, Fatime: they are among the 45,000 “invisible” people at the Paris Games. These famous volunteers, those that the IOC calls “the beating heart of the Olympic legacy”. Indispensable volunteers, they “selflessly commit to collaborating, to the best of their ability, in the organisation of the Olympic Games, by carrying out the tasks assigned to them without financial compensation or any other kind of compensation”. A real priesthood? In reality, the signal of an incredible commitment – more than 300,000 applications were received. And living proof that, even before the tremendous momentum generated by the torch relay, the French are ready to write a new page in the Olympic legend. L’Express tells you about this French dream in its double issue of 25 July.