From getting a role to getting to Milan. My Olympic Volunteer story - Part 3
- Isabelle Morin
- Jan 16
- 6 min read
Updated: Feb 3
The role
On 5 December 2025, during a short break from my Spanish classes in Peru (#2 on my bucket list), an email popped into my inbox—one connected to the very top item on that same list: volunteering at the Olympic Games. The subject line read: “Hurray! You have received a role!” My heart jumped. I immediately opened the Team26 portal to see what awaited me.
The screenshot above is all the information I received that day. No dates. No schedule. No additional details. Just a simple choice: accept or decline. Even with so little information, it felt monumental. I had been selected! I was going to be part of the next Olympic Games. I was still standing in the hallway of the language school, and for a moment I genuinely considered barging into Dave’s class to tell him. I restrained myself.
At lunchtime, I saw him walking toward me with the biggest grin. “Did you check your emails?” he asked. I matched his smile. “You too?” I replied. Yes—he had received the exact same two roles.
Later that afternoon, I called Véronique to share the news and ask about her application. She hadn’t heard anything yet. She had just returned from a trip and hadn’t completed her Health & Safety modules. Maybe that was the reason she was not offered a role yet, maybe not, but she immediately made a plan to finish her training.
As thrilled as I was, one thing was missing: details!
Speed Skating: Long track or short track? Which arena? What dates? How many shifts?
For San Siro: What event? Could it be the Opening Ceremony?
Clicking the little “+” beside each role revealed only generic information about training I had already completed and a short description of the role:
“As an Event Services Volunteer you are dedicated to creating a welcoming and uplifting environment that spectators will remember for life. Tasks may include information provision, wayfinding, lost and found services, and access support.”
And then this line:
“Schedules will be released in November 2025.” (For context: it was already 6 December.)
Three days later, the first real details finally arrived. I received my Speed Skating schedule: 11 shifts at the Long Track Speed Skating Arena on 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, and 21 February—each between 7.5 and 8 hours. Nothing about San Siro...
The email explained that we could decline up to three shifts. Our priority was making sure we were free on the 16th and 19th, since we already had tickets for Women’s Ice Hockey on those days. We were both free on the 16th, but both scheduled on the 19th—so we declined that shift. Most of our schedules matched, except: Dave didn’t have shifts on the 7th, 14th, or 21st and he had a shift on the 12th that I didn’t. I chose to decline my shift on the 14th because I didn’t want to work three days in a row while my mom and Manon were in Milan. In the end, we kept the rest: 9 shifts for me, 8 for Dave.
Things Getting Real
By mid‑December, everything suddenly felt real. We had actual roles at the Olympics. We knew when we’d be volunteering and—most importantly—where. With that new information, I decided to revisit our lodging plans. As I mentioned in Part 2, I had quickly booked a one‑bedroom apartment with a sofa bed in Monza, about 20 km from the Olympic venues. But once I mapped out the commute, reality hit: nearly one hour each way by public transport. That’s a lot of time. So, for almost a week, I spent at least two hours a day scouring Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com, hoping that a magically affordable, perfectly located apartment would appear out of thin air. Spoiler: it didn’t. That’s when I turned to a platform I had tried before—unsuccessfully. This time, I would change my strategy.
For the past four years, I’ve been a member of Home Exchange (HE), a platform where you offer your home to other members in exchange for points, which you can then use to stay at any home on the platform (If the member agrees). I spare you the details as I’m not trying to convince anyone to join HE; I simply want to explain how this became part of my Olympic accommodation saga. (I’ll write a full post about my experience with the sharing economy another time.)
I had previously searched for Milan accommodations on HE, and contacted many hosts, but only for the full minimum stay we needed (1–22 February), and nothing was available. This time, I dug deeper. I combed through availability calendars for every home not too far from the Speed Skating arena. In the end, I secured two separate exchanges: 1–11 February & 11–22 February. Both homes are less than 30 minutes from the arena. The second one is large enough to host mom and Manon as well, but the first one is only a studio—so they booked an AirBnB for their first three nights. A bit of a puzzle, but a much better solution than commuting from Monza every day.
San Siro Stadium
Morning in Milan is the middle of the night in Ontario, so occasionally I’d wake up to new emails from Team26. On 18 December, I opened one that left me both excited and… puzzled. It contained my schedule for my second role: San Siro Olympic Stadium.
Looking closely at the schedule, I noticed something alarming: the timing of the second shift overlapped with the Opening Ceremony—for which we already had tickets. What to do? There were almost no details about the role, but my gut told me it was connected to the Opening Ceremony. And whatever it was, I couldn’t be in two places at once. I had asked to volunteer in hockey… and instead I had been assigned Speed Skating and, quite possibly, the Opening Ceremony itself. A surprising twist, but now I had a decision to make.
Dave and I spent the day weighing the pros and cons. The biggest downside was financial: if we could not resell our Opening Ceremony tickets, we’d lose a significant amount of money. On the official resale platform, tickets can only be sold at face value (can't even sell for lower if I want to), and there’s a 10% fee. Selling elsewhere means trusting a stranger to send a large sum of money and hoping they trust you to transfer the tickets afterward—not exactly a stress‑free process. In short, reselling is possible, but far from guaranteed. I thought about it all day, and everything kept bringing me back to the same idea: I wanted to live the Games, not just watch them. So on 19 December, I listed our two Opening Ceremony tickets on the official Milano‑Cortina platform and crossed my fingers.
More Hockey
With my mom and sister joining the adventure, we all bought tickets for the Canada vs. USA Women’s Ice Hockey preliminary game on 10 February. My mom will finally see Marie‑Philip Poulin play at the Olympics. Manon and my mom are also considering attending the quarterfinals and semifinals (they will be back in Canada for the final), but they’ll wait to see which games Canada will play before buying tickets. Dave and I already have tickets for both semifinals, and we’re waiting for the quarterfinal schedule to buy more. Three of the four quarterfinals fall outside our volunteer shifts, so fingers crossed Canada doesn’t play during the one game we can’t attend. We are also hoping to catch a Men's Hockey preliminary game (the only affordable ones), but we are waiting for tickets with the Canadian Team to go for sale. Looking at the official website, it is clear that they know which team people want to see: We had no problem finding tickets for the game SUI - FRA for example, but good luck finding CZE-CAN; they are not even for sale!
The last few things
On 7 January, I received an email that made everything crystal clear: The shift on 4 February is the called dress rehearsal (whatever that means!) and the shift on 6 February is for the Opening Ceremony. I had to confirm full availability for both. Dave and I had another quick conversation, but the conclusion was the same as before: I want to be in the Games... We re-confirmed our availability. Our tickets are still for sale today...
On 8 January, things felt even more real when I received an email asking me to book an appointment to pick up my volunteer uniform. There were only January dates available, and since we only arrive in Italy on 28 January, we chose 29 January. Here’s a sneak peek at the uniform—more to come in Part 4 when I have my own. (This photo was shared on Facebook.)
On 9 January, another email arrived: an invitation to a venue training session at the Olympic Stadium on 28 January at 1 p.m. It wasn’t mandatory, but they described it as a once‑in‑a‑lifetime opportunity to see the venue, meet the team, and receive essential Ceremony information. The only problem? We land in Milan at 10 a.m. that very same day, after a red‑eye flight from Montreal. If the flight is on time, if customs are smooth, and if we can stash our luggage somewhere (bags aren’t allowed at the venue), we might make it. Will we? Find out in Part 4!
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