Stories from the Water Cube

Miss Cindy Hu working in the sunshine

One day she did experience a "big rush" - three hundred athletes were brought to a single entrance by shuttle buses within a period of five minutes. At the same time a huge entourage of athletes was leaving the venue. "I must count the number of athletes leaving as fast as possible and report it to our manager, who will decide how many shuttle buses would be needed to carry them," she said.

Miss Hu admitted she was disappointed when she found out what her job was. "But that was the past. I won't let such feelings keep me from enjoying my wonderful time here. Ultimately, it is your dedication to something common that makes you uncommon. That's what it really means to be a volunteer."

Wang Lei: "I received Henry Kissinger!"

August 10 was a big day for Wang Lei, because she was dispatched to assist the manager of the Protocol FA in reception, and the guests she received were all VIPs from different countries in the world, among who was former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

"When the manager told me who I was going to receive, I could hardly believe my ears!" recalled Wang. "But there was no time for being surprised. I tried my best to calm down as quickly as possible, and got down to searching for necessary information about him on the Internet."

Accompanying Kissinger were his son, grandson and granddaughter, who, according to Wang, were amazed by the grandeur of Water Cube. "Mr. Kissinger and his family were all very friendly. He even offered to shake my hand after getting off the bus! They were more polite to volunteers than common people are, always saying "thank you" when we assisted them. Even when someone blocked their view during the competition, they waited patiently for the person to move out of the way."

Wang said that she was inspired by Mr. Kissinger's respect for the volunteers to fulfill her responsibility better.

Yang Shuchao: "Speed is everything"

The Press Operations FA, which was divided into sections such as ONS (Olympic News Service), Competition Result Printing, Press Workroom and Press Tribune, was a large department consisting of more than 80 voluntary workers. Different sections cooperated for the chief purpose of providing necessary hard-copy materials for journalists and photographers as quickly as possible.

Despite having the privilege to occasionally glimpse the competitions in progress, I, a member of the Press Tribune section, hardly had the mood to enjoy it. The war between newspapers proceeded at a frantic pace during the Olympics, with journalists fighting hard with each other to be the first to report important events. Therefore, even a second of would cause journalists to lose their patience. The stairs connecting press tribunes were exceptionally steep. So sending news results as fast and safe as possible was a challenge we had to overcome. We even timed ourselves with stopwatches in an effort to improve our performance, as if we were competing to become the Michael Phelps of the press corps!

Since the journalists needed to include not only competition results, but also start lists, result summaries and flash quotes (quotes of athletes' immediate response after the competition), every member of our section had to climb up and down the steep stairs at least 25 times per day.

Though exhausted, we felt all our hard work was rewarded when journalists from different countries expressed their approval. Through my experience in the Press Tribune, I realize what "impossible is nothing" really means, and that miracles can be performed even in the most ordinary post.

Photos provided by Yang Shuchao and cnsphoto