POSTED: Saturday June 18th 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VOLUNTEERS TO EMBODY FESTIVAL OF FRIENDSHIP SPIRIT

Germany’s 8.5 million sports volunteers vying to welcome the world to Munich 2018

Munich, 18 June 2011: As final preparations are made for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany later this month, another core strength of Munich 2018’s Winter Games bid has come into focus, with Germany’s culture of sports volunteerism proving itself one of the most sophisticated and extensive in the world.

The organisers of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which kicks off in Berlin on 26 June, have been inundated with applications from people hoping to volunteer at the event. In total, more than 15,000 people applied for just 3,000 available positions. Volunteering is a vital part of Germany’s sporting heritage and there are over 8.5 million volunteers registered with the German Olympic Sports Confederation. Munich 2018 will be able to recruit people of the very highest calibre to help extend a warm Bavarian welcome to the world at the Winter Games.

Katarina Witt, Munich 2018 Chair, spoke about the key role volunteers would play in the Festival of Friendship:

‘Munich 2018 is all about welcoming the entire world to an inclusive sporting celebration, and many of our visitors’ first point of contact with our Festival of Friendship will be the volunteers. Having seen their warmth and professionalism at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and at dozens of events in between, I know they’ll make the Olympic family feel right at home in 2018.’

Bernhard Schwank, CEO of the Munich 2018 Bid Committee, added:

‘Volunteers are absolutely integral to our concept. We are very lucky in Germany, and in Bavaria in particular, because so many passionate and knowledgeable sports fans are willing to give up their time to help make event organisers’ dreams a reality.’
Many of Munich 2018’s proposed competition venues already engage experienced teams of volunteers in situ - people who have worked the same competitions and overcome the same challenges for many years. Alfred Hollinger is one of the 3,000 experienced and dedicated volunteers who will work at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. He said:

‘I have been involved in sports for 35 years and I’ve been volunteering at my club for much of that time. Being a volunteer at big sports events is such a rewarding experience. It’s being part of these events and experiencing the team spirit among the crew - I can’t get enough of it. I have worked at six really big sports events in Germany, but volunteering at the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in my own country would be an absolute highlight. I’m crossing my fingers for Munich 2018.’

Two-time Olympic champion in biathlon Magdalena Neuner spoke passionately about the culture of volunteerism in Germany during Munich 2018’s presentation to the IOC in Lausanne in May:

‘It’s not just the venues. It’s the volunteers who work the venues. In Bavaria, we have generations of volunteers who know the venues, the transport systems, the event protocols, and so many languages - and I’ll be one of them as soon as I’m finished competing. In Munich, it won’t be about recruiting volunteers: it will be about selecting them.’

With less than three weeks before the IOC votes on the host city for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Durban, the Bid Committee hopes that Germany’s volunteering culture is further evidence that Munich 2018’s Festival of Friendship can raise the celebration at the greatest show on Earth to a new plateau.

Background
Munich, in collaboration with Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Berchtesgadener Land, is applying to host the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The application will be put together and managed by Bewerbungsgesellschaft München 2018 GmbH, with Katarina Witt as Chair, Bernhard Schwank as CEO and Jürgen Bühl as Managing Director. Shareholders in the application organisation are the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) with 51 per cent, the City of Munich (30 per cent), the Free State of Bavaria (nine per cent), the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (eight per cent) and the district of Berchtesgadener Land (two per cent). The bid is being supported by national sponsors Adidas, Allianz, the BMW Group, BayWa, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Post, Flughafen München GmbH, Lotto Bayern, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, METRO GROUP, and the Sparkasse Finance Group, along with national suppliers ARGE (Albert Speer & Partner and PROPROJEKT), Deloitte, Getty Images, GfK Verein, Hubert Burda Media, IMMO 2018, Messe München GmbH, Norton Rose LLP, Munich Olympic Park, pilot sport and Stadtwerke München GmbH. More information about the concept, the progress of the application and many other aspects can be found at http://www.muenchen2018.org/en.

Bewerbungsgesellschaft München 2018 GmbH
Munich 2018 Bid Committee
Olympiapark München
Spiridon-Louis-Ring 21
80809 München

Responsible for contents:
Bernhard Schwank and Jürgen Bühl

Press Contact:
Simone Seefried
Agnes-Pockels-Bogen 1
80992 München
Telephone:        +49 89 540428-317    
Mobile: +49 176 840 532 26
E-Mail: presse@muenchen2018.org

Online Press Area:
http://www.muenchen2018.org/en/press

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Keywords · Munich 2018 · IOC · Thomas Bach · Katarina Witt · Bernhard Schwank

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Name: Simone Seefried
Organization: Munich 2018 Bid Committee
Email:
Phone: 4989540428317
URL: http://www.muenchen2018.org

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