Four hundred thousand city volunteers will be recruited from June to provide information, emergency and translation services as well as other non-Games services around Beijing before and during the Games next year. Officials made this announcement during a press conference by the Organizing Committee for the Beijing Olympic Games (BOCOG) on Monday.

City volunteers for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympics Games will provide services at the 500 city voluntary service posts to be set up around the city. Unlike those who will work directly for the Games, city volunteers will be responsible for giving tourists directions, first aid, and answer any queries to help them get around during the Olympics and Paralympics.

"We have already got 530,000 Games volunteer applicants and we hope people will just as eager to become city volunteers," said Liu Jian, office director of BOCOG Volunteer Work Coordinating Group at the media briefing. He added that only 100,000 volunteers will be needed to work directly for the Games.

"City volunteers are equally important. We need them everywhere around the city like tourist sites and other public places during the Games to stage a high-level Olympics," Liu said.

Younger applicants will have the opportunity to work for the Games. According to application requirements, those who were born prior to or on June 30, 1994 can apply for the post. "Applicants for the Games must be no younger than 18. We lowered the age requirement in order to meet more people's desire to serve the Games," Liu explained.

"For city volunteers, there are lower age requirements. We especially want more middle school volunteers, around 14 years and older, and they can motivate their families, teachers and schoolmates to participate the Games," he said.

The director denied that there would be too many volunteers for the Beijing Games. Responding to a question from a foreign reporter, Liu said the volunteers would have different duties in serving the tourists from the time when the athletes' village opens to when the Paralympics concludes, which will last about 80 days in total.

"Chinese people are friendly and we will present out gracious hospitality, so we need more preparation work and more people for that," Liu explained.

In comparison, there were 47,000 volunteers for the 2000 Sydney Games and 60,000 for the 2004 Athens Games. It is estimated that over 100,000 athletes, journalists, coaches and sports officials will be in Beijing next year.

(China Daily June 19, 2007)