My English conversation club at the Koda Community Education Center
decided to apply to be volunteers at the European Youth Olympic Festival. The EYOF is geared towards teenagers between
the ages of 14 and 18 selected by the 49 countries in the European National
Olympic Committees. 3000 athletes participated. It was a multi-disciplinary
event placed under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The summer edition includes athletics, cycling, judo, swimming, tennis, basket ball, hand ball and volley
ball. Since 1991, the EYOF has been held every two years. Tbilisi had the honor
of hosting this summer's event, and did a great job.
The festival I think has two goals - to allow youth to experience an Olympic
opportunity of course, and also to allow developing countries the privilege
of hosting an Olympic event. 700 people carried the Olympic torch
throughout Georgia, 2000 volunteers participated, of course Georgia was allowed
the largest contingent of athletes, and it was wonderful PR for the country.
Here's the highlights of the Opening Ceremonies. I thought it was excellent - not too
much. Remember it is for the Youth..and we do have a new zoo to build and populate! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ooXqRIySbM
A Chinese company, Hualing, built the entire village, with
The Olympic Athletes' Village includes 9 apartment buildings, a 5 star hotel,
fitness centre, restaurant and a recreational zone.
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| Dinner hall seats 2000+ |
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| Olympic Village consists of housing, plus a 5 star hotel. |
The Olympic Village is near the Tbilisi Sea, which is on the north side of Tbilisi. A large and nice lake, it unfortunately has just one beach. The kids wanted to go swim but were afraid of the lion, they were told was still on the loose. :-) 3400 athletes and staff were housed here. Transportation handling was excellent. All buses and marshes were in the Center space. One funny thing... most of the drivers and all the buses came from Baku, where the adult European Olympic Festival had wrapped up last month. But because of the Georgia driving idiosyncrasies (heavy euphemism here) each bus had a police escort, long after they knew each route.
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| There are 9 buildings built, number 1-8, and 10. |
We assumed the Chinese builder thought the number 9 was unlucky, but after research, it appears to just be a mistake.
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| My fellow Koda volunteer, Gio |
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| This was hung in every housing unit. |
The official language for the Festival seemed to be English and Georgian. Most volunteers spoke some English. But as with most European Youth, signs in French did not seem out of place since most of the youth speak several languages...well!
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| Kim's goal medal for uniforms. They had little blazers too. |
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| Our Liechtenstein delegation |
I was assigned as an attache for the Liechtenstein delegation - a great group of kids and adults. We learned a little about the small, and prosperous country. Without fact checking, this is what we heard. They have a close alliance with Switzerland, even to the extent that their close colleges and big grocery stores are located in Switzerland. They speak a dialect of German that sounds like Dutch. They don't even learn high German until they go to school, or from TV. Their immigration is about 60 families/year! They are not a part of the EU. Their chief industry is making false teeth, but their money seems to come from banking. They loved to hear about Georgia, ... and why I was there.
It was a great opportunity to tell the Peace Story... and I did... about 300 times over the week; to fellow Georgian volunteers, and to the foreigners who couldn't figure out why I was a Georgian volunteer at the games. I shared with them that at my interview, the volunteer coordinator stated I knew more and could represent Georgia better than many Georgians. I was proud to share the beauty and stories of Georgia, and of the United States Peace Corps. (By the way, I need to talk to someone about this - it appears that MANY countries think the Peace Corps is an United Nations initiative!)
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| One of the new venues, built for the Games. |
Some of the Tbilisi venues were renovated, like Judo and Tennis. Any many existing venues were used throughout the city. A new swimming venue was near here, in New Tbilisi, on the west side of the city, near the American Embassy.
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| Judo |
Georgia ended up with 10 medals; many came from Judo, a national obsession here.
Peaky,
the mascot, is a two-word combination - “Peak” and “youth”. The mascot
resembles Kolkheti pheasant connected with the legend on founding Tbilisi, the
capital of Georgia. This bird is associated with speed and rapidity. I loved
them.
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| Part of the closing ceremonies |
Final results showed the Russians leading with 37 medals, followed by Italy, France, Hungary, Great Britain, Spain. Smaller countries of course didn't do as well. Come to find out, they have their own European "small nation" competitions which are very popular for countries like Liechtenstein. Georgia ended up with 10 medals, almost exclusively from Judo.
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| Gino Paradise - a welcome relief from the 109 degree day! |
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| Two or three indoor pools. I lost count. |
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| This is a climbing wall and wave pool. |
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| Lazy river. |
Finally, the thank you event for volunteers occurred the day after the festival ended! They hosted a fun day at this water park - very nice since it had been such a scorcher of a week.. In true Georgian fashion, they started the event at 3pm. The food and speeches came somewhere after 9 or 10 pm. I was long gone, but still appreciated a day to recuperate. I might mention that most locals never frequent this place. They find the local village rivers just fine. I'm still looking for one. But the kids and my cousin come very soon... I think my friends might take us to a village river.
