July 26, 2024: ready, set, go for the Institut Pasteur's volunteers involved in the Olympics!

Since the start of the summer season, the newsletter team has presented some of the Institut Pasteur staff who are playing a role in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, whether in their capacity as an Institut Pasteur staff member, a volunteer or a sports person. These profiles have helped showcase the fantastic diversity of the Institut Pasteur community. This week, to mark the official opening of the Olympic Games today, we wanted to shine a final light on several staff members who have been selected as volunteers for this historic event.

 

A demanding selection process aimed at sporting excellence

 

 

Back in March 2023, several hopeful applicants registered on the official platform to apply for the chance to take part behind the scenes of the global extravaganza that is the 2024 Paris Olympics.

They included several Institut Pasteur staff already involved in voluntary and/or charity work, often related to sport. Just 45,000 of the 300,000 applications were selected – which shows the demanding nature of the selection process and the meticulous work in choosing suitable candidates. Each application was filtered using 180 personality-related questions to identify the assignment that would best suit each applicant. The results were published in November 2023. Given the huge interest and high number of applications, and since the Paris 2024 organizers were unable to take on more than 45,000 volunteers, they also transferred some applications to other volunteer networks involved in the Olympics. These volunteers – which include some Institut Pasteur staff – will be supervised by local town halls in Paris or other regions with Olympic venues.

A wide variety of tasks for a single goal: making sure the event is a success for everyone involved in the Games

 

 

The tasks assigned to the volunteers are extremely varied, ranging from cooks to drivers for the Olympic fleet and assistants to delegations. They are all designed to meet three aims:

-    Supporting the quality of the experience for all Games stakeholders. Volunteers with good interpersonal skills and a sense of hospitality will guide, inform and accompany participants to Olympic venues, transport them between venues, support medical staff, etc.

-    Supporting sports performance. Supporting participants at competition venues, recording times and sporting data, etc. – volunteers assigned to these tasks need to be thorough, rigorous and passionate about sport.

-    Ensuring that the organization is fluid and runs smoothly. Whether distributing useful equipment to Games stakeholders or installing communications equipment, the volunteers recruited for these tasks will be supporting various operational aspects.

 

Regardless of the specific duty they have been assigned, all the volunteers have completed online or in-person training sessions to make sure they are fully prepared for their work. They have been given detailed guidance well in advance of the Games to make sure that all the tasks run smoothly and are perfectly coordinated, with the aim of giving participants a memorable experience of the Olympics.

"Yours is the first smile tourists will see"

 

 

 

Becoming a volunteer requires preparation and time, and the training process is now coming to an end. The volunteers have completed their training, collected their official accreditations and recently acquired a final crucial item in the run-up to the big day: their official uniform. The uniforms vary slightly depending on whether the volunteers are assigned to the Olympic organization committee or to a local authority, but you will easily recognize them: green T-shirts, pink hats or baseball caps, trainers, and rain ponchos or windbreaker jackets depending on the weather. All topped off with a smile, of course! This is a point that was drummed into the volunteers during their training sessions: "Yours is the first smile tourists will see." The success of the Olympics will depend on the enthusiasm, smiles and energy of the volunteers.

Volunteers come from all over France and abroad, forming a tight-knit community that embodies all the values of sport: unity, team spirit and solidarity in support of a shared goal. The Institut Pasteur staff we spoke to after their training courses all described a friendly, warm atmosphere that transcends borders. Some have already forged strong friendships that will last beyond the end of the Games!

 

Institut Pasteur staff prepared and ready for the Games!

 

 

Proudly kitted out in their official uniform, several Institut Pasteur staff are gearing up to get stuck in as members of the impressive network of volunteers who will make the Paris Olympics an unforgettable event. Olinda Alegria-Prevot, Anthony Bouillon, Annick Dujeancourt-Henry, Isabelle Casademont, Patty Chen, Florence Guivel-Benhassine, Cécile Markarian and Claire Meunier are all overjoyed to be part of the Olympic adventure! Their applications stood out for the Games organizers, especially as they are already involved in sports and/or cultural events as volunteers or members of clubs. Used to working as a team to achieve scientific excellence on a cosmopolitan campus, this time they will be striving for sporting excellence – but once again in an international context. Their linguistic capabilities, people-oriented outlook and quest for excellence caught the attention of the Paris 2024 organizing team. They are committed to their future assignments at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and have willingly given up weekends and leave days to be able to take part. They all feel that the task they have been assigned fits their skills and personality and are excited to get started!

Read on to hear their first-hand accounts:

 

 

Olinda Alegria-Prevot, CNRS research engineer in the Dynamic Regulation of Morphogenesis Unit

Duty/ies: Olinda will be involved in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games as an athletes' services volunteer for the triathlon and para triathlon events.

 

 

For me, being a volunteer is about having a passion for sport, being part of a collective adventure – but it's also about fulfilling a personal ambition, as I still have happy memories of watching Olympic opening ceremonies on TV with my family, so it was only natural for me to apply. Becoming a volunteer for Paris 2024 involved a lengthy selection process. My work in a multicultural context has helped me develop empathy and communication skills – I am fluent in Spanish, French and English. I am also aware of the difficulties facing those with motor and visual disabilities, and this led to me being selected firstly as a substitute and then as a full volunteer for athletes' services during the triathlon and para triathlon. I will be making sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible, with a smile and a positive attitude, and I will be telling myself that as Olympic volunteers, we are the ones enabling the athletes at Paris 2024 to put in their best performance!
 

Anthony Bouillon, research engineer for the CEPIA facility and RSE/CSR Department

Duty/ies: volunteer for Paris City Hall for the Olympic Games. He helped with flow management when the torch relay came to Paris on July 14, and he will be helping coordinate the "Terrasse des Jeux," a venue for Olympic festivities on the forecourt of Paris City Hall that opened on July 20.

Ever since I was little, I have always watched the Olympics on TV, so I leaped at the chance to experience them in person this year as a volunteer for Paris City Hall. I can't wait to get stuck into this exciting new adventure that is all about helping others and bringing people together around the values of sport. So let's all make the most of this amazing event and enjoy the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games!

 

Isabelle Casademont, research engineer in the Ecology and Emergence of Arthropod-Borne Pathogens Unit

Duty/ies: as a volunteer for the Paris 2024 Olympic organizing team, Isabelle will be assigned to audiovisual presentation for the golf events in Guyancourt. She will assist the camera operators and liaise between the production teams, those working behind the scenes and the field.

 

Olympic values are universal values that can also be found in research: an appreciation of hard work and doing one's very best to achieve excellence. I believe in the values of sport, and I help promote sport in the workplace as head of the Step and Fitball sections in the Institut Pasteur Sports Club. I also help organize the Institut Pasteur's participation in the Companies Challenge for the "La Parisienne" race. So I naturally applied to be a volunteer for Paris 2024 so that I could have an insider's experience of the event. I am proud and excited to be taking part in my own way, and I know that it will be an unforgettable life experience.

 

Patty Chen, research engineer in the Biology of Host-Parasite Interactions Unit

Duty/ies: as a volunteer for the Paris 2024 Olympic organizing team, Patty will be a National Olympic Committee Assistant for New Zealand. She will be looking after the liasion beween the delegation and the Paris 24 organisation.

 

I was a national level athlete in my youth and I am so greatful to all the volonteers whe were present to make our sporting competitions possible. To give something back to the community I have been a volunteer for sporting events for many years and it is a wonderful experience to meet the athletes and see their daily lives close up. It is rare to have the Olympics "at home" so of course I’m very excited to participate. The athletes village has filled up with athletes and their support staff, now it is a buzzing village of color and sound. The excitement and anticipation has been slowing building up for everyone and there is a lot of work to be done in the next few weeks, I know it will be exhausting but also a lot of fun.

 

Annick Dujeancourt-Henry, research engineer in the Trypanosomes Molecular Biology Unit

Duty/ies: Annick will be a volunteer for the Paris 2024 Olympic organizing team on the route of the men's and women's road cycling event and for the night-time "Marathon for All." She will also be a volunteer for the Paralympic Games as a "sports presentation volunteer" for the para cycling in Clichy and the Paralympic marathon in La Courneuve.
 

I began playing basketball when I was little and later became a trainer and official referee. Sport has always been a lifesaver for me, it has helped me in every aspect of my personal and professional life. Some battles have been difficult to get through but you have to keep looking ahead. For years now, both in the Institut Pasteur Sports Club and in the clubs where I teach, I have tried to get people to see sport as a passion and not as a chore. That's why I jumped at the chance to apply for the Paralympic and Olympic Games as a volunteer, and I am very proud to have been selected.

 

 

Florence Guivel-Benhassine, research engineer in the Virus and Immunity Unit

Duty/ies: as a volunteer for Saint Quentin en Yvelines as part of the 2024 Olympic Games, Florence's mission as volunteer referent will be to oversee the set-up and management of fellow volunteers in the spectator reception areas, guiding them to the gates of the 4 venues. Over the fortnight of the Games, she will be carrying out 8 different missions, enough to discover all the sites.

 

For the past 10 years, I've been given a bib to run La Parisienne as part of Pasteurdon. This time, as a volunteer, I want to be on the side of those who get up early to welcome not the athletes but the spectators. I've lived in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines for over 30 years, and I'm proud of my home town of Guyancourt. I live in the center of four Olympic venues and a fan zone: the national velodrome, the BMX track, the Elancourt hill and the national golf course. Being selected as one of the 500 volunteers from our region is the perfect opportunity for me to take part in this great adventure, to be at the heart of this celebration of sport and Olympic values.

 

Cécile Markarian, administrative manager in the PhD Students Division

Duty/ies: as a volunteer for the Paris 2024 Olympic organizing team, Cécile will initially be working as a spectator services volunteer for the triathlon, archery, cycling time trial and marathon events. She will then be involved in the Paralympic Games for the taekwondo competition held in the Grand Palais, as an athletes' services volunteer. She will help improve the experience of athletes, technical officials and international federations and contribute to the smooth running of the sports competitions.

What made me want to become a volunteer at the Olympics? It was because of my brother – he is a triathlete and his passion for sport rubbed off on me. I started by going with him to events, and when I saw people pushing their boundaries I found it really inspiring – especially seeing someone with severe diabetes who demonstrated great resilience and determination. I soon realized what a mental effort was required and I decided to become a volunteer for running and ultra marathon events. Supporting and helping athletes during events, encouraging them through their internal mental struggles and seeing them exceed their expectations is a wonderful experience. The next step was to run my first half marathon in March, and that was just incredible! Rising to that challenge means that I can rise to others, in other areas of my life. And of course the step after that was to become a volunteer for the Olympic and Paralympic Games!

 

 

Claire Meunier, project manager for therapeutic innovation in the Technology Transfer and Industrial Partnership Department (DARRI), in the Innovation Development Office

Duty/ies: as a volunteer for the Paris 2024 Olympic organizing team, Claire will initially be a workforce team member, helping coordinate volunteers on a site with 600 volunteers. Then, for the Paralympics, she will drive vehicles for the Olympic fleet to transport members of the Olympic committees, international federations and national committees.

I wanted to apply to be a volunteer for the Olympics because it's a unique opportunity to discover what goes on behind the scenes to make sports events run smoothly. Finding out that there are so many people working behind the scenes to give spectators and athletes the best possible experience of the Games is very impressive.
As we get closer to the start of the Games, now that I've collected my uniform and my accreditations, completed all the training and found out where I will be based, I am feeling the pressure as I tell myself that I am going to be one of those invisible people who make sure everything goes well. I can't wait for it to start – I'm looking forward to experiencing the Games from the inside!