Lions Bay Olympic Volunteers

The huge spirit of volunteerism in Lions Bay was extended to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics games.  There were many Lions Bayers in the blue jackets, often referred to as Smurfs, riding the buses and putting in some long hours at the games.  And Lions Bay can be proud of those that had significant roles and whose contribution added to the excellent outcome of the winter games.  Each volunteer from Lions Bay that I talked to post games is very glad they had this experience for different reasons.   I interviewed a few of them and here is what they had to say:

Tony Greville’s role was Anti-Doping at the Whistler Olympic Park.  His day would start before 6:00 a.m. as he needed to board the bus in Squamish and be at the competition site at least 2 hours ahead of time.  Athletes not tested right at the competition site would be tracked down by a team of spotters which could take some time.  Once spotted, another person would come and advise that athlete they had to go for testing.  It made for long days but the biggest challenge was the requirement to be very impartial when watching a competition, particularly when a Canadian had a chance to win.  Tony said it was hard work, but he did manage to have a lot of fun dancing to Devo with a blue hat on after a medal ceremony.  Fortunately these were very clean games and Tony was glad he had the opportunity to test that.

Susan Loutet was an Event Services Host at the Whistler Sliding Centre.  Susan also commuted each shift by bus from Squamish which she said is when the fun began.  Talking with all the different volunteers en route back and forth made the trip easy and the buses were very comfortable.  Susan was one of the smiling people you often saw at the venue who made sure you got the right seat, or on the right path.  Her favorite position was at corner #16 named Thunderbird.  Here the crowd got very excited and the cheering was deafening at times, but it was easy to get caught up in the excitement.  It was very hectic with 8,000 people coming through the venue for an event.  A special moment was seating the Prince of Latvia and his entourage.  Susan said she wouldn’t have missed it for the world as it was an experience of a lifetime.

Dawn Hope worked in the Whistler Olympic Village (Athlete’s Village) in Resident’s Services.  Dawn always wondered what it was like to live in the Athletes Village and here was her chance.  Within the village were different zones that housed the delegations from the 80 different countries.  Resident’s Services job was to help problem solve.  She worked out of a trailer where athletes and coaches would come to do their laundry, watch T.V., and relax. Another role Dawn had was guarding the guns the athletes used for Biathalon where she got to witness the athletes target practicing, but not with real bullets.  In the giant food hall where volunteers and paid staff would eat their meals, she enjoyed meeting people from all over Canada and other parts of the world and was amazed at the level of commitment people had made.  So many had travelled from afar and given up their holidays, or taken leave from work to volunteer.   

Mary Brown had two roles during the games, one in Anti-Doping at the Sliding Centre and the other as Supervisor of the Administrative Assistants in the Poly Clinic at the Whistler Olympic Village.  Mary’s memorable highlights were the times she had to chaperon the Canadian medalists from the finish line to a press conference and then through the media mix zone.  The trick here was to keep an eye on the athletes and get them tested within an hour without getting caught in any of the photographs.  Becoming invisible was the new skill.  The other highlight was escorting the Gold Medalist in the women’s Skeleton through the same mêlée which was even more exciting because it was the first time a British athlete has won a gold medal at the Olympic games for a long time.

In the Polyclinic, her team of volunteer admin. assistants were working hard to master all the duties which were new to them.  Mary said by day 10 they had the scheduling software figured out and by then they were seeing over 180 people a day come through the clinic that provided all kinds of free therapies, eye care – including glasses, dental work and medical treatment.  The assistants had come from all over North America and had varying professional backgrounds including one being a Chaplain from theU.S.  Mary said it was great to learn new skills and really enjoyed a very busy but rewarding time.

Dr. Ross Brown has spent the past two years as the Director of the Mobile Medical Unit and the Polyclinic situated in the Athlete’s villages.  He had been directing everything from the planning through to operation, including purchasing.  The MMU will be used after the games for emergency response around the province.  With the help of sponsorship, these state of the art facilities had full surgical rooms, MRI and Cat Scan equipment.  The facilities were visited by the King and Queen of Sweden as well as many other dignitaries and Ross was very proud to receive accolades from everywhere for delivering world class, timely and seamless medical care.  We witnessed some heroic Olympians who overcame great injuries to complete their races and some to stand at the podium to receive medals, thanks to the support of the medical teams.

Diana Ford and I had roles as National Olympic Committee Assistants.  Diane was assigned to Slovania and I was assigned to Sweden.  Each of the 85 countries that came over to compete are with a delegation that includes athletes, coaches, trainers, managers and overseeing all of this is the Chef de Mission.  Our job was to assist with whatever they needed from their point of arrival prior to the games through departure.  We received extensive training for this role as we needed to have a broad range of the knowledge.  We were located in the Whistler Olympic Village and we reported to the office of the delegation each morning for our instructions.  We learned quickly that you had to be very flexible and accept that things can change by the minute.  Our tasks ranged from hanging up banners to last minute pick up of athletes and coaches, to purchasing champagne and flowers each time an athlete won a medal. My special moment was being present in the Swede’s trailer with 50 of the team members while they congratulated and celebrated their medal winners after the race.  Another was being entrusted to personally transport a bronze medal to Vancouver.   Diane’s favorite moment was spending time with Slovanian Cross Country bronze medal athlete Petra Majdic who had such amazing strength of character and determination to participate in the race despite her four broken ribs and punctured lung.  Before the accident Diane enjoyed taking her shopping.  When she received her bronze medal Diane was invited to have her picture taken with her.   We were fortunate to be accommodated at Whistler by VANOC which helped with our availability.  We both learned a lot from the team experience and so much about the cultures of the countries we were serving.

From them moment I learned that Vancouver would be hosting the Olympics I made it a goal to be involved.  My volunteer journey started over a year ago when I was assigned to interviewing volunteers up in Squamish.  Darlene Reigh and Tony Greville and I worked together in Squamish and that is when the enthusiasm really began.  During my interviewing I was introduced to the Whistler Weasel Workers.  These are dedicated skiers who since the early 70’s have been volunteering during World Cup ski events to provide all the help needed to make them a success.  I am not sure what the reference to Weasel came from, but many of these people live in Lions Bay and participated at the Whistler Creekside Alpine Events.

Weasel Worker Laura Henry was checking in the Alpine volunteers at Whistler Creekside. Some days she started at 4:30 a.m. check-in about 1,200 alpine workers each day.  Laura was impressed with the dedication of the volunteers who came from all over.  One of these dedicated Alpine Workers was her husband Kirk who was Course Crew.  Many of these workers’ shifts began at 2:00 a.m. on the mountain in order to prepare the course for the race.  With the constantly changing weather conditions they worked very hard for 12 days straight. Working with a young crew slipping the course, which involved sliding sideways to smooth the ice/snow and packing the snow, was fun.  Their ultimate reward was the very positive feedback they received about the excellent course.

Gary Taylor has been a Weasel Worker at Whistler since the 70’s. During the games his role was Assistant to the Chief of Race.  Gary thought the Olympics were a great boost to the sport in Canada as talent from Whistler, Calgary and Ontario bonded together to put on races where the quality was second to none.  Despite the weather, the course was well prepared and fair for the first racer to the last.  He is most proud that they could bring 1,600 volunteers together effectively to ensure the challenging Whistler course was perfect.  They received excellent feedback and thanks to Carney’s for providing the workers with a place to gather after work each day.  The level of commitment amongst the course workers was tremendous.

There are more residents of Lions Bay I did not get a chance to interview. Cay Holbrook and Cathy Gregson worked as Hosts at the Welcome Centre at the Athletes Village and Rose Dudley was a Host at the Pacific Coliseum.  The Pikes have been Gate Judges for Alpine Events for many years and I am sure there are more I have missed.  I hope they will add their comments to this article on-line. 

Most of us are doing it all again for the Paralympics and we are even thinking about Sochi.  We learned more about ourselves, will always remember the many great people we met along the way and feel pride in having contributed to a job well done.

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