Today, as part of my day as an apprentice at SkillsActive, I went and saw the Olympic and Paralympic Heroes Parade which was an amazing, breathtaking experience. The atmosphere was ecstatic as everyone in Trafalgar Square was wating for the heroes of Beijing to appear, and as they appeared they were waving and smiling at the fans.  The support for  Team GB was fantastic, flags were being waved and chants were being shouted, with school kids chanting ’Rebecca Adlington’ and everyone cheering the atmosphere was incredible.

There was alot of media taking pictures and video’s of this event, and everyone else  was taking pictures of this amazing time too, I watched one lady jumping up and down and other people were climbing on bulidings to take pictures. Boris Johnson delivered a speech, and there were a lot of gifts given out for free such as oyster card holders, Great Britian flags and the best of all gifts was a Plastic Lottery Hand which was a big blue foam hand. There was loads of them, however I never had a chance to get one of them.  Oh well, maybe at London 2012 I can get one. I can’t wait until London 2012, and I bet others can’t either?

Following the wonderful performances of our athletes in Beijing this summer, the Olympic Parade will welcome our Olympic and Paralympic heroes to London with a victory parade through the city to celebrate one of Britain’s most successful Olympics ever – it was our biggest medal haul for one hundred years.

British Paralympic medal count			British Olympic medal count
42 golds	29 silvers	31 bronzes	19 golds	13 silvers	15 bronzes

With all the athletes taking part in Beijing invited, over 500 are expected to join the parade, including Londoner Christine Ohuruogu who said: “It’s great to come back from the Olympic Games and see how much Team GB’s success has been enjoyed by the public. I am looking forward to celebrating with everyone in my home city of London.”

The parade is due to begin in front of the Mansion House in the City at 11am where athletes will travel on a series of floats, on a journey that will take them past St Paul’s Cathedral and down the Strand before arriving in Trafalgar Square at around 12:30pm.  The athletes are due to assemble on the north terrace overlooking the square, and lunchtime crowds, at approximately 1.15pm, with proceedings expected to have been finished by 2pm.

The Olympic and Paralympic flags now fly over City Hall in advance of the 2012 Olympics, and were raised last month by Beijing gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu and Chris Holmes MBE, one of Britain’s most successful Paralympic swimmers. Now, once the celebrations of the 2008 Olympics are over, attention must return to the preparations for 2012.

With programmes such as AASE having delivered success so far, it is time to build on these successes and develop these programmes further, so that we have even more to celebrate in four years time.

Rebecca Adlington, one of Britain’s success stories this summer with two gold medals, recently welcomed the latest intake of AASE swimming apprentices, and said of the scheme: “I’m very excited to welcome the new apprentices on the swimming AASE programme. My apprenticeship with the ASA provided me with high quality training, whilst giving me the opportunity to gain qualifications at the same time.

“Winning two gold medals in Beijing and breaking a world record was the greatest achievement of my life and I hope the new intake of swimmers can work towards further success for British swimming. It would be fantastic to see Great Britain win even more medals in the pool at London 2012.

“I wish the new apprentices the best of luck for their AASE programme and hopefully we’ll see as many of them as possible competing for Great Britain over the next few years.”

My work here in Beijing is now at an end, as the Paralympics prepares for the closing ceremony but for me it has started what could hopefully be a bright future.

I have only one regret about these games in Beijing and that is that they have finally ended but there is no time to waste on matters that can’t be changed. For me it is now time to fully focus on the future.

Having the opportunity to work here as a volunteer is one thing in my life I will never regret. I have so many happy memories and have seen some fascinating sports, world records, Olympic records as well as Paralympian being set and broken.

One thing I will say is that volunteers are a key factor to the Olympics running as well as they do so hopefully in London many more people will get the same or a similar opportunity as I have.

My final work shift was last night and I watched world records come and go, something a year ago I thought would never happen, it is amazing what life can throw at you.

Also my last interview was with South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius aka the “Blade runner” who for the final race of the evening smashed the World record in the men’s 400m. What a way to finish my Paralympic experience.

From here though I have one day to pack and prepare for my long journey back to England. Whilst I have been here I feel I have matured, grown as a person learnt many lessons and improved in my journalistic capacity.

Don’t get me wrong I have also had great fun, and since I have made so many Aussie friends you learn to be slightly more out going and you constantly have fun whether it be at work or on the social side of life.

I am honoured to have been at these games, it has been a dream come true, I hope to be at 2012 for London but you never know what is round the corner, all I can say is if your young enthusiastic and love sport- get yourself to the games. It truly can be life changing!

Finally I am happy after 3 months to be going home to be reunited with my family and friends. I have to also say how happy I was writing this blog for SkillsActive, I hope in some way I have helped some of you learn more about being an Olympic volunteer and tracing some of my thoughts and feelings on the subject.

Remember this if you only remember one thing:

“Volunteers represent the Olympic Spirit”

Jacques Rogge, Chairman of the International Olympic Committee

On this final note I will say goodbye and thankyou.

Hello SkillsActive,

So far during my Paralympian bout as a flash quote reporter all is going well, just like Great Britain’s medal tally. 

It is nice to see Britain doing so well not just at the Olympics but at the Paralympics especially with 2012 just around the corner, hopefully we can surpass what we have achieved here in Beijing back home in London.

Anyway volunteering here for the Paralympics at first was a proposition I entered with a small deal of pessimism. This was mainly due to friends going home and being in a foreign country for another three weeks after living here for two months already, but to be honest the experience has been well worth while.

One of the main reasons for this is because where I work in the mixed zones after events, there is less accredited media than there was at the Olympics; meaning that you get more one on one time with athletes which not only develops your interviewing skills but also increases your confidence. 

In fact only yesterday evening I interviewed Michael McKillop of Ireland who set a new world record and won Gold in the T37 800m, winning Ireland’s first Gold medal. And he is such a nice lad, I really hope he continues his success and does well in the rest of his career.

I also interviewed the women’s greatest ever athlete Chantal Petitclerc who won the women’s 100m, the first of many events for Petitclerc, who won five Gold medals in the last games at Athens. Also with this looking like her last Paralympics it makes interviewing her even more special. 

So when you are interviewing some of the worlds great Paralympians it can be a bit daunting, however they put you as a reporter at ease and are very understanding. Something that at times wasn’t the case in the Olympics whereby athletes would blank you and then close up like a clam during the interview, this has not happened here.

Now looking back on my choice to stay here I am very happy and feel I made the right decision. I am working with a great team at the Birds Nest and flash quoting at the Paralympics is so much fun, it is exciting and to be honest this experience is going to help me as much as the Olympics did.

Finally I would like to finish of by saying congratulations team GB, keep up the good work and continue to make us proud.

Will speak to you all very soon.

Hi everyone,

The Paralympics have just begun today and I start work tomorrow. As you all probably know by now I will be working at the national stadium (Birdsnest) on Paralympic Athletics. 

This weekend I finally received my Paralympics accreditation and with it I thought a free ticket to the opening ceremony, maybe not. Unfortunately for me and my four fellow British colleagues our accreditation hadn’t been given the official stamp for the opening ceremony.

So like many Chinese, British and everyone else around the world I settled for watching it in my hotel room and enjoyed every minute of it. I can’t wait to start interviewing the athletes, the sooner the better!

Today I paid a visit along with colleagues to the Birdsnest to pick up our Paralympics uniform, which was quite amusing. Originally on my uniform request form I asked for a large shirt size and large trousers because the Chinese sizes are smaller than western clothing. Today I was surprised to find one medium, one large and one extra large shirt in my uniform bag and again similar problems with my trousers. The best though was my Jacket. I got a whopping 3XL which could fit me and at least one more person in, it was quite funny at the time.

I don’t mind though I am working eight days at these games and it doesn’t matter what I am wearing so long as I am down at the field of play or in the mixed zone.

Until this afternoon my mood for the Paralympics was somewhat lessoned because of my Olympic experience being so good. But now with new colleagues, new challenges such as new sports to report on, my ambition and my journalistic juices are working overtime.

 Really looking forward to working, watching and being part of these Paralympic games but when they finish I have only one day left in Beijing. I will miss this place when I’m home but I will take away so many memories, life experiences and so many new friends who I will know for years to come. Again I reiterate these Olympics have given me so many new horizons and I recommend it for many people come 2012.

I’ll speak to you all soon.

David