Korea & I

Volunteering at
PyeongChang Games
with a disability

I hope that the Paralympics will be a great success

The reasons why I applied to be a volunteer at the PyeongChang 2018 Games
were that I enjoy organizing large events and I wanted to contribute to the
success of an event as part of a large and motivated international team,
as well as offer my support to international guests.
Furthermore, I had never been to Korea before and
I wanted to get to know a new country and make new friends.

Written by Kay Lieker, Volunteer at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics

My experiences as a Volunteer

My name is Kay Lieker, I am 30-Years old, I come from Germany and I would like to tell you about my experiences as a volunteer at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Games. I have a physical disability since I was born, which was caused by a lack of oxygen. Therefore I use a wheelchair for mobility. Over the past eight years, I’ve volunteered at quite a few events both inside and outside the world of sports. To point out some highlights, I volunteered with accreditation at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 also with accreditation, at the Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympics helping with transport and in Rio 2016 Paralympic Games in Event Services. Outside of sports, I’ve volunteered at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 in Germany and in 2015 in Austria both in the Airport Welcome Service, Furthermore I’ve done some volunteer work in Bangkok in 2012 and 2013, where I worked for a disabled people’s organization.

The Olympic Games

The reasons why made me applying to be a volunteer at the Pyeongchang 2018 Games were that I enjoy organizing large events and I wanted to contribute to the success of the event as part of a big motivated international team as well as offer my support to international guests. Furthermore I have never been to Korea before and I wanted to get to know a new country and make new friends.

At the Olympics I worked on the Event Services team for the ice hockey matches at the Kwandong Hockey Center, where I mainly worked at the information desk to help spectators finding their way around the venue as well as answered questions about transportation and the Games in general. Additionally worked at the seating inside the arena, assisting guests to find their respective block and seats.

At the Paralympics I will work during the sledge hockey matches at the Gangneung Hockey Center, where I will again work at the information desk.

During my work at the Olympics I had the opportunity to meet a lot of people from different countries and societies, with the majority being Koreans, of course. Despite the fact that I don’t speak Korean and therefore communication is sometimes a challenge, all people I met, both coworkers and spectators where extremely open, friendly and helpful. To give one example, the path from the venue to my accommodations at the university nearby is mostly uphill, so my supervisor is always offering to arrange for a car to take me there.

Even though I’m very thankful for this offer, I prefer making my own way as I am used to life in a wheelchair, as well as traveling by myself, and I visit different countries on a regular basis. Another point that surprised me positively and which is beyond my previous expectations is the accessibility that I found both around the venue and in the city, with ramps, for example, being available and street crossings being equipped for people with visual impairments.

On the other hand, I also observed that most of the buses arranged for the event and the city buses were not wheelchair-accessible, which makes it difficult. However, as I can luckily walk with crutches, it’s not impossible for me to use them. In this regard, I would like to once more highlight the friendliness and helpfulness of all the people that I met, who have offered to help me in situations that seemed challenging for me, mostly even before I could ask them.

Another thing that has been quite challenging for me is Korean food, as it’s very spicy and I’m not used to spicy food. The good thing, though, is that I had the same situation when I lived in Thailand. In both countries, I realized that I was adapting to the food and to the spiciness better and better, every day.

Looking forward to the Paralympics

Although I have already participated as a volunteer in two Paralympic Summer Games and the Winter Youth Olympics in 2016, PyeongChang will be my first Winter Olympics. For me, it is and it has always been one of the greatest volunteering opportunities to participate in these events, especially as the Olympics are the biggest sporting event in the world. Though the Olympics are now finished, and the Paralympics are still to come, I’m already looking for opportunities to get involved in the next Olympics in Tokyo in 2020. I can only imagine what people with disabilities in Germany in general think about the Olympics, but the people that I know and talked to before my departure are all really looking forward to the Games.

Personally, I’m really looking forward to the beginning of the Paralympics in March, as I will have the opportunity to see how Winter Paralympics are organized and I’ll have to work in the sledge hockey arena, which is a sport I’ve never worked with nor seen live in an arena before. I hope that the Paralympics will be a great success for all the people involved and that spectators will enjoy watching all the events.