Selected as a volunteer for Paris 2024, this Chinese student tells her story

Among the 45,000 volunteers selected to supervise the Olympic Games, Jinyu Liu, a Chinese student, is preparing to experience a unique adventure: she learned French in just a year and a half to be able to carry out her mission.

As the Paris Olympics approach, volunteers are starting to arrive in the capital. A total of 45,000 have been selected. These volunteers will play a central role, from welcoming foreign delegations to administrative management and guiding spectators. Among these 45,000 young people, some are foreign students who have been selected by the network of French embassies. Some thirty young Chinese are part of the program, such as Jinyu Liu, who studies international relations at the Beijing University of Foreign Languages.

At 22, this is the very first time she will leave China to go abroad. Since she was selected by the Alliance Française in Beijing two years ago, the young woman has had only one goal in mind: to learn French to properly fulfill her mission.

“When I found out I had been selected to be a volunteer at the Paris OlympicsI have immediately started learning French at the French Alliance in Beijing. It’s part of the volunteer training program. Before, I had already learned a little French at university, but my level was not very good… Now, I am relearning and I feel that I am making progress.“, she assures the microphone of franceinfo.

Jinyu is a regular at the games: she was already a volunteer at the Beijing Winter Olympics two years ago. In Paris, she will be in charge of welcoming a foreign delegation. She doesn’t know which one yet, but a few days before leaving for France, there is already a lot of excitement, Jinyu tells us, in very correct French: “It’s a very interesting mission. Having a new adventure in Paris is very exciting for me, to go abroad and participate in such a sporting event.“.

There is still a little apprehension among the student who comes from the big city of Chongqing, in central China: Paris does not always have a good reputation among the Chinese, particularly in terms of security and cleanliness. She is particularly apprehensive about having to cross the capital every day to go from her accommodation to the Olympic village: “I’m happy, but I’m a little scared too, does she slidebecause it’s the first time I’m going abroad, in France in particular. I was told that in Paris, there are things I’m going to have to adapt to. The metro, for example, is a little different from the one in Beijing, in terms of security or the smell… Things like that“, Jinyu confides.

Despite this fear, the charm has already worked, it seems: even before arriving in Paris, the Olympics gave Jinyu a taste for France. She decided to continue her studies in Paris: “This volunteer project gave me the chance to learn French and gave me the idea of ​​continuing my studies in France”explains the student. In September, as soon as the Paralympic Games are over, she will go to Sciences Po, where her application has been accepted for a master’s degree.