Recruitment drive a stunning success as over 4000 volunteers apply - Daegu 2011

Daegu, KoreaA staggering total of 4006 enthusiastic applicants responded to the first phase of the volunteer recruitment drive initiated on 3 March 2009 by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the IAAF World Championships, Daegu 2011, shattering the original target of 2000 volunteers.

“The response we received is extremely encouraging and it shows the passion that Koreans have for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics,” said Dong-Hoo Moon, Vice-President and Secretary General of the LOC. “We have confidence that such enthusiasm will be the cornerstones of a successful Championships!”

The applicants responded to the LOC’s call to provide support in the following fields: translation, competition, medical, media, transportation, administrative support, information guide and security.  The fields of translation, competition and information guide proved to be the most popular.

The LOC will now proceed with screening tests and interviews between the months of April and May, and the 2000 successful applicants will begin training at the end of June.  While the volunteers will be recruited mainly for the 2011 IAAF World Championships, they will also gain much needed experience during the preparation for the ‘Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting’ to be held on 25 September 2009.

The applicants are predominantly from the city of Daegu and the Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, with female applicants making up two-thirds of the total number of applications.  More than 75 percent of the applicants have at least college-level education.

In addition, more than half of the total applicants are certified to be proficient in a foreign language, such as English, French, Japanese and Chinese.

As testament to the outreach of the Internet in Korea, more than 90 percent of the applications were received either via e-mail or through the official website of the LOC - http://english.daegu2011.org/pages/index.jsp

Daegu 2011