So, I guess I start at the beginning. I was assigned to be the lead assistant (there were three of us in total) for the Democratic Republic of Congo. The reason? I speak fluent French. However I was soon to learn that the French spoken by the people of this fascinating African nation is not quite the same as the French I know and speak every day. I knew from the moment I opened my little envelope telling me I would be working with COD (The Olympic code for the DRC), that it was going to be a challenge but also an excellent learning opportunity. I could not have been more right!
Anyway, what was my job? An NOC is essentially the whole team who come from one country, so we were all assigned to different countries for the duration of their stay in the UK. What we did changed daily as we were there to help them with whatever they wanted doing. Whether that be taking them on shopping trips (these were my favourite days), getting them tickets to events, making sure the athletes did everything they needed to, or driving them to Manchester for the day to see the football stadiums (this was not my favourite day!). I have to admit I really liked the variety and uncertainty. I am a super organised person who generally plans my days to the hour, so coming in in the morning and having no idea what was going to happen was quite exciting. It was tough at times because we were expected to know a lot about the working of the games. Whereas other volunteers only had to know about their area, we had to know it all! We also had to get used to working on Africa Time which often meant a lot of sitting around waiting on them.
A big part of my job ended up being driving. This was certainly an interesting experience having never driven around London and never driven a car other than my little KA. We were assigned two LOCOG cars... a BMW 5 series (aka boat) and a Citroen Picasso (aka mum car). At first I hated going out in the cars as London driving is mental and they felt huge... I genuinely felt like I was driving a boat around the city. After a while though I got used to them and actually this was one of the biggest learning curves of the experience. I am now much happier driving around and even made it back from Durham in a hire car with no tears!
I was team leader so had to coordinate with the Chef de missions (head of the NOC) from the DRC and had to manage the other volunteers assigned to the team. This was often easier said than done as the Congolese are a very relaxed nation, so our instructions or requirements for the following day were given last minute. I ended up having my Olympic phone on me at all times, even on days off as the Chef would call whenever he had a question. The two guys I worked with were great and we had a good laugh together. We worked very long days for six weeks from the day the team arrived to when they left after the closing ceremony. Then you add on the fact that my journey in from home was about an hour and a half on a good day, I was pretty shattered but wouldn't change the experience.
Another good point about our role was that weren't always needed by our country so we sometimes had time off which allowed me to explore the Olympic park and sneak into several events including Super Saturday!!! When we weren't chilling we sometimes got the opportunity to work with teams from other countries so I ended up working with France, Peru, Germany, Holland, the USA and Nigeria. Being able to speak 4 languages certainly came in handy!!
Highlights include:
- Being an athlete for the final dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony. They needed people to do the walk from the village to the stadium and then do the lap of honour for timings, so all of the NOC assistants got to take part. This was an AMAZING experience, one I can't quite put into words, but I will never forget it. We were joined by some of the army and we had a fabulous evening.
- Handing the water bottles to our (COD) marathon runner at drinks station A. I was stood in the stand with other athletes from other countries and got to witness the marathon up close.
- Working in the Athletes village. We would walk around and just see all of these amazing athletes walking around, chilling. It was very inspirational and certainly made me dust off my trainers. We ended up seeing people like Tom Daly and Rebecca Adlington a lot and it became very normal!
- Getting a load of texts as the other Congo appeared at the Opening Ceremony and having to reply that I worked with the other Congo so they had to wait for the Ds.
I will never forget the summer or my final day when I spent four hours in the evening translating for the police. Yes four members of my NOC escaped and were on the news (much to my friend's amusement) so on the final day I translated for the investigating team. BUT I grew very fond of the team and hope they are all well in the DRC. That is all for now, but when I look through my Olympic diary I am sure another post could appear with more stories!
The COD Team :D
TEAM COD!
Opening Ceremony dress rehearsal night
My pass - note the bit that says ALL :P It means access all areas!
Dress rehearsal Congolese team
The walk to the stadium!
In the stadium after the lap of honour!!
Walking to the stadium on the real Opening Ceremony night. We had to escort the team!
