The Dress Rehearsal - Our Incredible Luck - part 5
- Isabelle Morin
- Feb 6
- 6 min read
Updated: Feb 8
I honestly believed my first volunteer shift wouldn’t give me enough material for a full blog post. Wow, was I ever wrong. Remember our venue training on 30 January...where we were told that we’d learn our roles on the 4th, during the dress rehearsal, and that those roles might change for the actual ceremony. Well… that’s not exactly how things unfolded.
When we arrived at the Olympic Stadium, we joined a long check‑in line where our accreditation was scanned and a sticker reading “Opening Ceremony Rehearsal” was slapped onto our badges. That sticker was our golden ticket through security. At security, they checked our bags and confiscated anything not allowed inside. (Dave, I told you not to bring the power bank! lol).
Just past security, a volunteer handed each of us a slip of paper with a number from 1 to 8. I got 3. I had no idea what that meant, but I did know I wanted Dave with me, so I pointed at him and said, “He’s my husband.” She shuffled through her stack, and handed him a 3 as well.
Inside the secure compound, we hunted down Group 3—which, naturally, was the farthest one. Surprise: our supervisor from venue training was there. She explained that today we’d be “playing athletes.” Since the real athletes weren’t present, volunteers would fill in for the parade rehearsal. I turned to Dave with a grin: “Now that’s a fun volunteer shift.”
Group 3 was then split into three subgroups. One supervisor didn’t speak Italian, so all English‑speaking volunteers were asked to join her. No surprise—we went with her. Let’s call this group 3B. Then 3B was split again. There were 32 of us, and they needed three groups of 10. As they counted us off, I realized I was number 10 and Dave was 11. I immediately told the supervisor, “Since we’re 32, two groups will need 11 people. Could ours be one of them? I’d like to volunteer with my husband.” She said yes without hesitation. So we became Group 3B2.
If you’re lost, here’s the summary:
Volunteers were divided into 8 groups.
Dave and I both got Group 3 because I asked that we remain together.
Group 3 was split into 3 subgroups (3A,3B,3C).
We were assigned 3B
Our subgroup (3B) was split again (3B1, 3B2, 3B3)
I asked (again) to keep Dave with me; it worked (again).
We are in Group 3B2.
The Plot Twist: “Congratulations, You’ve Been Selected…”
After an hour outside, they finally brought us inside for a briefing. “Congratulations,” the supervisor said. “You’ve been selected to work with the athlete parade!” Wait—what? What happened to we will "play athletes" today... That was for group 3A, not us...
Oh oh! I wasn’t even planning to volunteer at the Opening Ceremony. I had decided to decline the opportunity because I already had expensive tickets to attend and I thought I’d be freezing outside, directing spectators. I knew athlete‑parade roles existed, but they were randomly assigned, and I figured I had maybe a 5% chance to get that role (and even less chances that we'd both be assigned that role). Somehow… I had gotten it? (or should I say "we" got it!). Was I supposed to tell the supervisor she needed to give this coveted role to someone else? I kept whispering to Dave, “What do we do now?” We agreed to talk to her as soon as we would be able to talk to her alone.
On our way to lunch, the supervisor gave us a quick tour of the areas where Group 3B will work. Group 3B1 will wait on a street adjacent to the stadium and escort athletes who wanted to leave early (some have competitions the next morning, only attend the parade, and skip the rest of the ceremony).
Then she brought us to the location for Group 3B2 (our group). That’s when everything changed. Our role? To stand right behind the athletes and escort them, either to the early‑departure point outside or to the toilets. Standing there, just a couple of meters from where the athletes would sit in 48 hours, and only a few meters from the pole that would hold the Olympic flag, I turned to Dave and said: “I’m doing this. I’m transferring my ticket to Véronique.” He agreed immediately. This was too special to pass up. He transferred his ticket to a neighbour from our accommodations in Milan (This ticket transfer, and how we meet that man, are also crazy stories but this is off topic!)
Once the ticket transfer decision was made, we could finally focus on learning our roles.
But first—lunch! Let’s just say… it was not the highlight of the day. The lunch tent was far too small, and the lunch bag made a Canadian Armed Forces Box Lunch look gourmet. The bananas were frozen solid. I’m not sure how that even happens. But hey—I still ate enough (but not the banana!). After lunch, we were deployed to our exact spots for the ceremony. We learned the procedures for early departures and toilet breaks (surprisingly complicated when you’re trying to move athletes discreetly during a massive live show). One volunteer was in charge of our group of ten, and she was immediately bombarded with opinions from everyone (except from Dave and I, we know from experience that leaders don’t need ten people telling them how to do their job).
The Rehearsal
Once we thought the “toilet protocol” was finalized (it wasn’t...), we took our positions and waited for the rehearsal to begin. And let me tell you: it was the real deal. Everything you’ll see on TV was performed. Even Mariah Carey was there (with a men dressed in black holding an umbrella over her head because it was raining hard). Andrea Bocelli wasn’t there, but they had a stand‑in and played his music. As explained earlier, they had a whole bunch of volunteers "playing athletes" so the parade also looked like the real thing (except they did not name every country, as it does take forever...). We’re not allowed to give spoilers, but like any Olympic Opening Ceremony, it will be grand.
I still can't believe we ended up with the most coveted role for volunteers! The Canadian athletes will literally walk less than three feet in front of us on their way to their seats. It’s not just athletes who will pass right by us: performers and even the people carrying the Olympic flag will walk within a meter of where we stand.
Of course, there are rules:
Stay against the wall
Always face the stage
No interaction with athletes (no talking, no touching)*
No photos (no phone use at all!)
Always smile
*Unless they need to be escorted of course!
Once spectators enter at 6 p.m., we must be in position. The athletes don’t arrive until 8:30 p.m. so there’s a long stretch of time where we will have nothing else to do other then… standing and smiling. In all, we will be standing more than 5 hours straight. It was a long 5 hours during the rehearsal and it will be a long 5 hours tomorrow during the actually ceremony, but I still need to pinch myself to believe that it is really happening!
I doubt that you will be able to spot me tomorrow; all volunteers need to be like a fly on the wall until one of the athletes need us. However, if you are looking for me, I will be all the way behind the athletes, on the right side of the podium, 4 rows behind where the Canadian Athletes are seating. I hope you all enjoy the show; we sure did! Oh! and if you see, on the opposite side of the stadium and low in the stands, a lady wearing Crosby #87 (Dave`s Jersey), it's my sister Véronique seating in my seat!
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