Volunteers support track and field championships

More than 2,800 volunteers, mostly college students, will provide services to athletes, audience members and media for the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015, according to the organizing committee.

The volunteer group will include 2,620 college students, 117 volunteers recruited from the general public on the Chinese mainland, 49 volunteers from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and 17 foreign volunteers, according to the organizing committee.

They will provide services throughout the tournament in areas including competition organization, reception, international liaison, registration, audience service, medical service, media operation, environmental protection, transport, security and market development.

The volunteers were selected from 5,946 candidates, and more than 40 percent have prior experience serving at international conferences or tournaments. More than 94 percent of the volunteers were born after the year 1990.

The college students are mainly from universities in the capital, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal University and the University of International Business and Economics.

They will receive six days training on subjects including knowledge about the tournament and the competition venues, the code of conduct for the volunteers, traditional Chinese culture, how to deal with foreign visitors, etiquette and image building. They will also be trained to handle emergencies and how to protect themselves in such scenarios.

The 117 volunteers recruited from the general public are from an array of industries with different education backgrounds, including those who work at public institutions, State-owned enterprises and private companies.

In addition, some are also volunteers for nonprofit organizations, as well as primary and secondary school teachers and university lecturers. The youngest volunteer is 15 years old and the oldest is 73-year-old Chang Zhifu.

According to an official with the organizing committee, the fact Beijing hosted the Olympic Games in 2008 played a tremendous role in motivating the volunteers to sign up.

More than 85 percent said they had lasting impressions of the volunteers at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 36 percent said they signed up for this tournament because of the Olympics seven years ago.

The organizing committee has drafted a motto for the volunteers - "higher standards, faster adaptation and stronger support".