Head of Athletes' Village: "The athletes are satisfied"
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By Leena Lepistö
Arto Ahola, the head of the Athletes' Village of the IAAF World Championships, says he understands that the volunteers may have faced many surprises, especially during the first days of the championships.
Ahola himself is completely satisfied with how the accommodations for the World Championships turned out. On the last day of the games, the teams thanked the organisers for arranging everything well. The UK and United States reported that the village was the best they had been in.
"Personally I have never seen an athletes' village that could be compared to five-star hotel accommodation. Even the biggest stars stay in the hostel-level village even though they have the opportunity to live in fancy hotels. It is the atmosphere that draws everyone to the athletes' village."
According to Ahola, an organisation comprised of volunteers goes through a start-up phase, because contrary to a corporation or hotel, it needs to start from scratch.
"The volunteers do things for the first time in their lives. Their commitment was fantastic. We received plenty of messages and feedback that helped to develop things further."
Ahola maintains that it is unavoidable that some matters are overlooked when accommodation is provided for 3,000 people. The organisers received plenty of positive feedback concerning the motivated volunteers. They actively searched for answers to all the questions that athletes asked them.
"We employed over 500 people. At first when there were problems, they called the first number they got their hands on. Gradually the right numbers and people were discovered. In a volunteer organisation it is natural that the first two or three days are spent learning the ropes. I assumed we would be running routinely by the fifth or sixth day, but everything was running smoothly after the third day."
The student union of the University of Technology gave the organisers permission to use the laundry rooms of the buildings after it became evident that there was a large demand for the service. Detergent and operating instructions were delivered to the laundry rooms.
"That was purely an extra service which was not required of us in the organisers' contract. We noticed the demand and were able to react and adapt to the situation."
The head of the athletes' village says that the problems with smoke alarms were mainly due to cultural differences.
"We had to be quite tight with the teams from some countries when we explained that it is forbidden to smoke inside, and that the alarms must not be touched. When we went back to attach some alarms for the third time and reasoned that the alarms protect the athletes and are required by law, the problem was solved", Ahola recalls.
According to Ahola, smoking was the largest cause of false alarms. A hot shower or steam triggered a fire alarm on a couple of occasions.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 25.8.2005
More on this subject:
 Deficiencies in World Championships Athletes' Village surprised volunteers
Helsingin Sanomat
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