Friendship knows no boundaries

My name is Lin Yifei. I am a twenty-year-old sophomore in the French Department at Beijing Language and Culture University. My experience as an Olympic volunteer began a year ago when I served as a liaison for foreign teams at the Good Luck Beijing sport events.

In August 2007 I was chosen as the liaison for the Tunisian wrestling team at the Good Luck Beijing World Youth Wrestling Championships. During the ten days of competition, I stayed with the Tunisian athletes for more than 15 hours each day and used my knowledge of French to help them when they encountered difficulties.

To prepare for my role, I searched online for information about Tunisian history, culture, food and customs and also looked for information about wrestling. But despite my preparations, we still encountered difficulties right from the start. Since the native language of the Tunisian athletes was Arabic, they spoke French with a heavy accent. For the first couple of days, the athletes and I had to draw, write and use body language to communicate.

During the World Youth Wrestling Championships, everything felt fast paced . Some days I would work for 18 straight hours; sometimes I didn't even have time to eat food or drink water. I was exhausted but also excited. I was glad to be able to help the foreign athletes.

Look at me!

In ten short days I became such good friends with the Tunisian athletes that when it was time to say goodbye, everybody cried. The coach of the Tunisian wrestling team calls me almost every month so that we can keep up with each other's lives. A short while ago, the coach told me that the female wrestler who was here in Beijing during the World Youth Wrestling Championships had qualified for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. And she asked her coach to tell me that we would be seeing each other again this August in Beijing. Many athletes and coaches from the team have asked the female wrestler to bring me Tunisian local delicacies. I am deeply touched by their friendship and their passion for the Olympics.

In August 2008, I will serve as a volunteer to provide language services for foreign athletes coming for the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It has always been my dream to serve Beijing and the Olympics. And now through hard work, the dream is slowly becoming reality.