Kazan 2015 volunteers team at full strength for FINA Worlds

Alexander Karpov, Deputy Director General of the Executive Directorate for Sports Projects, the official organiser of the 16th FINA World Championships 2015 in Kazan, took part in the welcome ceremony for non-local and international volunteers. In his speech, he thanked regional delegations for supporting Kazan’s initiative and arriving in Kazan to contribute to the sporting event’s success. Alexander Karpov highlighted that the volunteer team would have to cover a ‘long and challenging distance’, but the volunteers were not disconcerted in the slightest. Responding to the question "What will we make the Championships like?", a chorus of 540 voices answered without any hesitation, "The best one!"

Anna Zakhmatova, Director of the Volunteer Department, was also present during the welcome ceremony. "It is so nice to see our old friends in the team, those that we’ve met and started cooperating with as early as in 2012, during the Kazan volunteers’ training at the APEC events in Vladivostok. It’s so pleasant to see all those who were with us during the 2013 Summer Universiade, and even more pleasant to see new faces. It means that the volunteer movement is growing and developing, and it is we who stimulate this development!"

Prior to arriving in Kazan, the volunteers had taken a long journey, from applications in September 2014 to interviews and announcement of selection events results in March 2015. After that the delegations took up training in their regions and prepared for departure to the sports capital city of Russia. And finally, on July 16, the non-local and international volunteer teams arrived in Kazan. The competition for the right to join the regional delegation was up to 35 applicants per place. For instance, it was like that in the regions that were the champions in terms of the number of applications: St. Petersburg (905 candidates), Moscow (852 candidates) and Samara (827 candidates). Based on interview results, the non-local volunteers were assigned to different positions at both sports and non-sports venues. The Kazan Arena Stadium team was joined by volunteers from Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, Arkhangelsk, Sverdlovsk oblasts, Udmurt and Chuvash republics, Primorsky and Krasnoyarsk krais, as well as volunteers from Almetyevsk. The teams from the Republic of Mordovia and Saratov, Samara, Astrakhan, Novosibirsk, Kirov, Orenburg and Volgograd oblasts will work at the Aquatics Palace and Water Polo Arena. Volunteers from St. Petersburg, Republic of Mari El and Krasnodar Krai will assist in staging the high diving and open water swimming competitions on the Kazanka River embankment. Besides, the volunteers from the Russian regions will take part in the Championships Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the Pilgrim show: the boys and girls from the Rostov Oblast and Krasnodar Krai were lucky to be the first ones to learn all the secrets of the ceremonies.

International volunteers selected for the Championships were assigned to the key positions at the sports venues, including the Field of Play, the Sports Information Centre, the Team Attachés and others. In her return speech on behalf of international volunteers, Antonina Estam who had volunteered at five Olympic Games, wished all the boys and girls to gain new experience at the Championships and increase their personal ‘expertise’, and concluded her speech with the following words, "Let as many as possible Olympic Games and such championships be part of your life!"

The final part of the welcome ceremony for the international and non-local volunteer delegations was quite symbolic. The heads of delegation released gold fish in a big aquarium which will be placed at the Volunteer House as a reminder that the volunteers feel at home at the Championships just like fish in the water.

Press Office of Organising Committee for 16th FINA World Championships