A View From the Cart

This account was written by Robin Douglas '60 during his stint as a volunteer at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Back in January of 2008 I applied to be a volunteer for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Then after many interviews in 2009 and 2010, an ICBC drivers license review for infractions, and more training, including a road test to all venue sites in Vancouver and Whistler, I became part of International Client Services. The official description of the position is: “You’ll provide Customer service to ICS customers such as international and domestic dignitaries. You will also help members of the Olympic and Paralympic Games family and sponsors.” Translation: you deal one on one with the people who make the Olympic Games the experience that it is for all of us. Finally in January 2010 I was issued my uniform and my Olympic experience was beginning to feel very real.

In early February 2010 I was issued my “Cart”, a brand new Chevy Traverse SUV with seven kilometres on the odometer and a dedicated cell phone for communication with my client. On the 6th of February my client and family arrived in Vancouver after flying 17½ hours from Mongolia. Due to confidentiality, what happens in the “Cart” stays in the “Cart”. But I will say that my client is one of the most highly decorated (now Honourary) International Olympic Committee members.

My driving duties began on February 7th and to date we have travelled 1,500 kilometres and have visited Whistler three times, including the Whistler Sliding Centre and the Whistler Olympic Park. In Vancouver, we have so far gone to figure skating, hockey, many events at snow-challenged Cypress Mountain, the US border, plus numerous trips to various Olympic meetings and social gatherings. I will be with my clients from Mongolia until they leave Canada on March 1st when I switch over to the Paralympic Games in Whistler.

I have been very fortunate to meet this incredible group from Mongolia which includes the IOC member, who is 84 years old, his seventh child’s daughter and her husband (who handles the translation duties) and their 19 month old baby.

Highlights from the “Cart”:

• Learning to speak Mongolian – I think not as I had enough trouble with grade 6 French
• Seeing Canada win its first gold medal.
• Meeting Wayne Gretzky.
• My encounter with Rusty Goepel in a parking lot adjacent to Canada Hockey Place. Rusty sees me and says to the volunteers present: “Is he bothering you? Are you alright? If not, I’ll get him fired.” Then with a grin on his face Rusty swept off in his chauffeured SUV to dinner with the Chairman of Coca-Cola. I then had to explain that Rusty was the Chairman of the Board of VANOC, once was my boss, is a long time friend, and we still work for the same firm.
• Going Zoom Zoom in the Olympic only lanes around Vancouver and Whistler.

But there have been lowlights from the “Cart”:

• Explaining the unfortunate sites of Vancouver’s downtown eastside, especially Hastings & Main on a Saturday afternoon.
• Driving around the scene but still seeing the effects of the disturbance last week. Hundreds of police, low flying helicopters and masked trouble makers.

More highlights from the “Cart”:

• Visiting the Athletes village. Walking around I felt like one of the elite athletes.
• Wearing my uniform and answering great questions about Vancouver and the Olympics.
• Through the venue screening I have met police Officers from all over Canada. The toughest seem to be from the OPP. The nicest from Montreal and the farthest from a little town in Nova Scotia. There are 17,000 people involved in Olympic security.
• Meeting the other Olympic volunteers from across Canada who came to help - even if only for a few days - such as a college student from Ottawa who came to stand in the rain and direct venue traffic for four days; to a trauma surgeon from North Vancouver who worked on her hours off in the Athletes Village.
• Pins. Pins. Pins. Everyone wants one. I should have made one as I could have given out hundreds.

I am very proud to be an Olympic Volunteer representing my city Vancouver, my province British Columbia and my country Canada to the world as a part of International Client Services.

Cheers,

Robin Douglas -- or as my accreditation says, Alexander Douglas.

Note: Robin wasn't the only Douglas volunteering at the Olympics. His whole family, including wife Suzanne, daughters Chloe and Kristi and son Taylor also caught the Olympic spirit.