Nearly 80 Percent of Beijing 2008 Volunteers Confirmed

So far, the programme has received widespread attention and concern from the public since its launch on 5 June 2005. The plan called for the recruitment of a total of 100,000 volunteers for the Olympics and Paralympics, in addition to 400,000 city volunteers to provide information, language, emergency and other services in the city and around the venues.

The applicant pool has already reached 800,000, setting an Olympic volunteer record. More than 20,000 volunteer applicants were invited to serve during the "Good Luck Beijing" sport events in 2007. At the end of 2007, approximately 80 percent of the volunteers required for the Olympic and Paralympic Games had been initially confirmed.

The volunteer training consists of general training, professional training, venue training and on-post training. Paralympic volunteers receive additional training in specialized topics related to the Paralympic Games. Training is conducted via distance training, onsite training and training by practice. More than 90,000 volunteers have already tested the training system, with 80,000 volunteers receiving general training and 30,000 receiving professional training.

For more information, please see the official website at www.beijing2008.com.