Speaker Dave Wheatley of the Rotary Club of Stanford & Corringham

Speaker Rtn Dave Wheatley

of the

Rotary Club of Stanford & Corringham 

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THE LIFE OF AN OLYMPIC GAMES MAKER - talk given to Hornchurch & Upminster Rotary Club on Thursday 13th December 2012

Dave Wheatley from the Rotary Club of Stanford & Corringham came to the Club to explain his fascinating life as a Games Maker during the recent Olympic Games in London.

In 2010 applications were received for the role of Games Makers at the Games, and in March 2011 Interviews took place - to gauge some idea of the competition there were 250,000 applicants of whom 100.000 were actually interviewed in a very speedy but rigorous process lasting just half an hour.  Dave was fortunate to be accepted and with 10,000 other successful candidates he went to Wembley Arena to undergo training  in the ethos of the Games and in the vital subject of Health and Safety.  Training then switched to the organising body of the Games LOCOG at Canary Wharf .

Dave was allocated to the MPC the heart of the international media about the Olympic games.  The building, of five floors was housed quite near the entrance to the Games site, housed no less than 7,500 journalists.  The resources of the centre were impressive, for example there were 816 work stations for the 500 journalists in the building. .  Although the journalists came from all over the world, the whole Olympic events were given in only two languages  English and French, the journalist having to translate these two languages into the journalists' native tongue in order to send their report to their own country, and in all there were 230 nationalities attending the Games - both as competitors and as officials and journalists.

By trhis time in his interesting talk Dave had exhausted his time to talk to the Club on his Olympic experiences.  So with still much more to tell the Club, he readily agreed to come back and complete his story of one of the ,most successful Olympic Games in modern history.

Dick Palmer

PRO Rotary Club of Hornchurch & Upminster