Sochi Airport

Over a hundred Sochi 2014 volunteers have left Moscow and is bound for London for the Olympic Games. The Sochi 2014 volunteers will help their British counterparts during the Summer Games. The volunteers will then apply the valuable experience they gain at the next Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi. The London 2012 Organizing Committee was directly involved in selecting the 104 strong team of volunteers, aged between 18 and 70 from 17 cities in Russia.

Before the volunteers departed for London an official ceremony took place in Sheremetevo Moscow airport. The President of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, and Sochi 2014 Ambassador, Albert Demchenko, were both present to congratulate the volunteers and wished them luck for the Games.

In London, "The Golden Hundred" will work across six functional areas: transport, protocol, interaction with the NOC and NPC, event services, press operations and human resources. Volunteers went through a strict selection process. All applicants were required to speak at least one foreign language and have fundamental knowledge about the Olympic Games. The London 2012 Organizing Committee was also involved in selecting volunteers.

A team of professionals, including experts from the London 2012 Organizing Committee, worked with the volunteers from "The Golden Hundred". They prepared a rich program for the Sochi 2014 volunteers including a wide variety of training sessions, competitions and workshops. Most of "The Golden Hundred" volunteers are aged from 20 to 22 and are studying a wide range of subjects, including international translation, medicine, mathematics and physics. After returning from London, volunteers will share their knowledge and experiences with their colleagues from the Sochi 2014 Volunteer Centers through the whole Russia. The "Golden Hundred" will also participate in the training of their colleagues for the 2014 Sochi Games.

The "Sochi-London-Sochi" project follows the great work achieved by the «Sochi-Vancouver-Sochi» project. During the Vancouver Games 2010, 25 volunteers from Russia worked at the Paralympic Winter Games in Canada.

The President of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, noted:

"The volunteers are at the heart of every successful Games and I have no doubt that they will proudly represent Russia in London and share their unique experiences and Olympic spirit with other volunteers across Russia.”

Sochi 2014 Ambassador and honored master of sport in luge, Albert Demchenko, noted:

“It is a great honor to be a volunteer of London. I have been involved in a number of Olympics Games and can assure you that the volunteers’ responsibility is not less than that of sportsmen’s”.