Sochi 2014 announces volunteer application deadline

“Working as a volunteer is great, as you are given the opportunity to get really involved with the sport that you are helping in."

The Sochi 2014 Organising Committee has announced that 1 March 2013 will be the closing date for volunteer applications for the next Paralympic Winter Games.

To date, the Sochi 2014 volunteer programme has been very successful, with more than 140,000 applications being submitted, 80 per cent of which have been selected for the Games.

"We are very proud of our volunteers,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko, President and CEO Sochi 2014.

“They have already proved themselves at the Games in London and at the test events. Now, they are going through one of the most complex experiences – the work at the numerous test competitions of the 2012-2013 season, which will become the dress rehearsal for the Games in Sochi. I have no doubt that our volunteers will work conscientiously and get a great deal of useful experience at the events.”

During the 2012-2013 winter season, 5,000 volunteers will attend training by taking part in the Olympic and Paralympic test events in Sochi, and in total they will work over 50,000 shifts.

One of their key learnings will be working in conditions that will closely resemble those at the actual Games. Volunteers will share the knowledge they received with their colleagues from all 26 Sochi 2014 volunteer centres across Russia.

"It’s one thing to watch sports competitions on television, but another to take part,” Sochi 2014 Yaroslav Migachev said.

“Working as a volunteer is great, as you are given the opportunity to get really involved with the sport that you are helping in. You get to know all of the rules and subtleties – and that sport stops being a mystery from the television screen.”