2010 Winter Games need volunteers, but there's an Olympic-sized catch

Do you speak a foreign language? Can you dance? Have you ever helped put on a sporting event?

And by any chance, do you happen to have a condo at Whistler?

Any of those, along with your willingness to contribute time and effort, could help make you a candidate for one of nearly 30,000 volunteer positions at the 2010 Winter Olympics, to be held in February in British Columbia.

"The success of the Games is largely contingent on the volunteers," said Allen Vansen, managing director of workforce operations for the Vancouver Organizing Committee. "The Olympics couldn't happen without them."

Vansen is in charge of recruiting, training and managing an army of 25,000 volunteers to staff sporting events and other venues in the Vancouver and Whistler areas.

An additional 4,500 volunteers will be selected to perform in, or work at, the extravagant opening and closing ceremonies planned at Vancouver's 55,000-seat BC Place stadium.

Volunteers for the Olympics should be motivated by a desire to be part of an epic event, not by the chance to get in free to see their favorite sport.

"No one will get to sit there and watch a whole competition," Vansen said. "They're going to be running around and pretty busy in their own right."

Some volunteers in support roles won't see the actual events, but that hasn't deterred about 60,000 applicants from more than 140 countries who have applied online since the recruitment drive began early last year.

Vansen wants to generate as large a pool of candidates as possible before formally offering volunteer positions, a process set to begin this month.

The biggest obstacle to candidates from outside British Columbia is that nearly all volunteers will be expected to arrange their housing at a time that lodging in Vancouver and Whistler is expected to be pricey and hard to come by.

"Anyone who has their own accommodation, particularly in the Whistler area, would be quite attractive," Vansen said.

Volunteers, who will undergo background checks by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, will perform a vast array of tasks at the Olympics. Many assignments require minimal training, such as taking tickets, working as ushers, picking up litter, serving food and escorting athletes from the fields of play to doping-testing stations.

But highly skilled and specialized workers also are needed, including doctors and nurses to provide medical services and people who have experience officiating at sports events.

To gauge the importance of the Olympics' volunteer corps, consider this: Once the Games are under way, the Vancouver Organizing Committee's volunteers will outnumber paid employees by more than a 5-to-1 ratio.

Most long-term paid jobs on the committee already are filled, but about 2,000 to 3,000 short-term employees, including various technical and support workers, will be added for the course of the Games.

Canadians have first crack at the jobs and the volunteer slots. "These are Canada's Games. That's something we've emphasized fairly strongly," said Vansen, a Newfoundland native who moved west in 2007 to work on preparations for these Olympics.

About 5,000 volunteers already have assisted at sporting events in the past year, which has enabled Games organizers to "test-drive" competition facilities in Vancouver and Whistler. A high percentage of those volunteers likely will be offered positions during the Olympics.

New applicants for volunteer spots enhance their chances of being accepted, Vansen said, if they speak multiple languages. Athletes are coming to the Games from more than 80 countries, and some of the smaller delegations won't be bringing interpreters.

Volunteers will be asked to work at least 13 days during the 17-day run of the Olympics. Candidates are especially desirable if they'll also agree to work the 10-day Paralympic Games for athletes with physical disabilities, which begin about two weeks after the Olympics end.

Before the Games, most volunteers will be required to travel to Vancouver for at least one training schedule and to get uniforms and credentials, but Vansen's crew has also prepared "e-modules" to teach volunteers much of what they need to know online.

A greater time commitment, in the months leading up to the Games, is required of those who'll be in the opening and closing ceremonies. They'll meet in Vancouver for auditions starting next month and for a series of rehearsals beginning in mid-November.

Dancing experience is helpful, but not required, said Suzanne Walters, spokeswoman for the organizing committee. Among the thousands of applicants so far are several dance troupes and an entire women's hockey team.

As massive as it will be, the volunteer corps assembled by the Vancouver host agency won't reflect the full scope of volunteer work at the Olympics. Many of the arriving delegations, including the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), travel with volunteers of their own.

Bob Condron, spokesman for the USOC, said the U.S. entourage might include nearly 100 volunteers, including team physicians, trainers and support staffers, such as some 20 assistants in the media office.

A few positions are still open, Condron said. Prospective candidates who can travel to the Games on their own and cover their expenses can write to USOC International Games, One Olympic Plaza, Colorado Springs, CO 80919.

"We tell our volunteers that this is an experience they will never forget," Condron said. "They will be part of history and tell their grandkids about 'the 17 days I worked the Olympics in Vancouver way back in 2010.' We have fun, we work hard and laugh a lot."

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com