The selection of the volunteers of the 2008 Olympic Games in Qingdao will start. Those who have volunteered in the 2007 Qingdao regatta and the newly selected volunteers this time will form the main body of the volunteer team in 2008 Olympic Games and paralympic.

       The confirmation of the volunteers who served the regatta last year is scheduled from Jan 1st to 30th 2008. The sailing committee will also select around 700 new volunteers for the 2008 Olympic games and the paralympic. The interview for selecting new volunteers is scheduled in the Qingdao Olympic sailing center at Jan 12th and Jan 13th2008. The second round of the selection is schedule in March 2008. In principle, Games-time volunteers should meet the following criteria: abiding by Chinese laws and regulations, being enthusiastic for public welfare undertakings, possessing basic knowledge about sports, being able to communicate in foreign languages, and satisfying requirements on working time and being qualified for the posts they apply for.

       Online selecting and face to face interview will be adopted for the selecting of the volunteers. The main procedures are information checking, English testing and face to face interview. In the information checking, it is very important that the applicants have voluntary experiences, fluent English and also satisfying guarantee on working time. One out of five of the applicants can pass this round and take part in the interview and English testing round in which applicants will be selected according to their oral English skills, knowledge about Olympic Games and skills of servicing. From 19th Jan to 27th 2008, skills of the professional volunteers will be tested. The over-water testing for the game time volunteer and selecting of the volunteers who speak minority language will be finished by the end if March.

       Since the starting of the project of volunteer selection, it has gained much of the public concern. The sailing committee would like to show grateful to people from all walks of life, and also, to take this opportunity to encourage more and more citizens to take part in the voluntary works of all kinds.