© Stade de France ®
Macary, Zublena et Regembal
Costantini - Architects
ADAGP - Paris - 2002
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VOLUNTEERS  PORTRAITS |
 TEAM ATTACHÉ: MAKING LIFE EASIER
Paris 2003 Saint-Denis
All the delegations, big or small, are accompanied by at least one team attaché, whose job it is to cater to the athletes’ and coaching staff’s needs at all times of the day or night.
“We live with the teams”.
Edith, Patrick and Patrice spend their days at the Athletes Village looking after their respective delegations. In all, there are 82 Volunteer team attachés for 210 delegations. Their mission is twofold: to act as a go-between for the athletes and the outside world, and to ensure their charges are able to focus on the competition. “We co-ordinate the contact between the media and the athletes and the embassies and the athletes, for example” says Edith, who is in charge of Belarus.
Solving minor problems
Each team attaché has a person who acts as a contact within his/her delegation. The team leader may also call upon the Volunteer to solve a minor problem. Patrick, for example, accompanied the athletes from Antigua who had lost their kit to see the people from adidas, purchase new gear and have it dyed into the Antigua colours. The Volunteers are also in charge of recuperating lost baggage at the airport. And according to Patrick, it’s all in a days work: “We’re having great fun. We talk to the athletes a lot. Nine out of ten are very approachable.”
Though certain Volunteers only look after one delegation, most take care of several. Patrick is in charge of no less than ten of the smallest teams: Malawi, Malaysia, Dominica, Micronesia, Fiji and Antigua amongst others. His role is none the less challenging for it: “Being in charge of ten delegations means having ten contacts and ten different requests,” he explains.
Some athletes are a little lost
“We get all sorts of requests. In the beginning we had to show some athletes how the washing machine worked or how to flush the toilet! In other countries it isn’t always done the same way.” Some athletes, who come from the other end of the world, seem a little lost. “At the beginning of August when the Fiji delegation arrived they were totally out of it, like their minds were still in Singapore!” Patrick remembers. The Volunteers were there, though, to talk to them about France and Paris and to organise a few trips.
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