With less than 250 days until the beginning of the Olympic Games, its organizers have been overwhelmed with requests from people hoping to take any part in this once-in-a-lifetime event. Emory's Russian Studies department is pushing ahead of this deluge--six of its members have guaranteed access and hard work in the Olympic Village this summer.
Maria Lunk, senior lecturer in the Russian department, is currently in training to serve as an envoy through the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) for the Russian Olympic athletes who will be arriving in Atlanta next summer. Not only has she helped to secure five associate envoy positions out of a total of seven for Emory students and professors, but she also has managed to get one of her students an internship with ACOG.
Lunk began working with ACOG in May, when she met liaisons from the National Olympic Committees (NOCs). "ACOG was looking for people for the envoy position, and I thought it would be a good chance to see what resources Emory could offer," she said. The envoys are trained by NOC services, and they "asked us to help recruit associate envoys, upper-level Russian students determined by responsibility and proficiency in the language." The associate envoys under Lunk are Associate Professor of Russian Studies Alan Cienki, Emory College juniors Andrew Crossley and Mara Finklestein, and senior Shirin Venus. Senior Katherine Mazanova is not involved in the envoy program, but secured a year-long internship at ACOG through Lunk with possible access to the Olympic Village next summer if she is needed.
The current training process, according to Lunk, involves learning about the general history and structure of the Olympic Games as well as hands-on training for next summer, which is when Lunk and the associate envoys "will really start to work." This hands-on training involves memorizing the manual for the chef de mission, who is the head of the Olympic team in the Village. As an envoy, Lunk serves as the liaison between the chef de mission and ACOG. The manual is put together and studied by ACOG in preparation for next summer's Games. It includes materials on everything from the layout of the rooms in the Village to the events held, the cost of items and basically "anything and everything that concerns the athletes in the Village," Lunk said.
In July 1996, Lunk and the associate envoys, who work on a volunteer basis, will begin to work directly with the Olympic Village and Games. Their jobs will involve "everything--covering any problems or glitches. Each envoy will have a desk and will work . . . to make sure things go smoothly."
Cienki envisions himself working with "logistical problems--getting lots of things done on short notice and taking care of things you can't anticipate." Besides this sort of troubleshooting, Cienki said the job will involve translation. "Translating aids the job, but you are the intermediary on the United States side when the Russians have problems," he said.
Venus anticipates many of the same tasks and is enjoying "learning everything about the Olympic Village. We're making sure they don't get lost, that they have everything they need, and we're showing them around Atlanta." Venus said that each associate envoy "will be assigned time slots, and we'll go with the athletes to where their events are."
Mazanova has spent her fall semester with ACOG translating materials. "They don't have an official translator, so I cover a lot of biographical data," she said. Mazanova, an Azerbaijan native, goes through many articles and biography forms at her internship because "it isn't known who's going to be in the Olympics yet, so you end up translating more than is needed." Mazanova believes the job will get more complicated as the countdown to the Games continues. "They'll allow me to call Russia if I don't understand a form," she said. "The forms go into extensive detail about some of the athlete's injuries. Some of the terms I can't even find in a dictionary, they're so medically oriented."
In addition to Lunk and her team of associate envoys, two other members of the Emory community are serving Russian athletes for the Olympic games. Emory College freshman Alexander Kutikov is in training as an associate envoy for Azerbaijan, while Russian department lecturer Oksana Foltyn is the main envoy for Ukrainian athletes.
So far, the "Emory Russian Olympic team" is looking forward to their opportunities and anticipating a busy summer in the Olympic Village. "Amateur athletics have always interested me," Lunk said. "This is the first time I've been exposed to international athletes on this level. It's an opportunity to meet the creme de la creme." Cienki is interested in "meeting the people involved" and "learning about different parts of Russia from a different perspective than I'm used to." Mazanova thanks Lunk for the opportunity to study Russian in a unique atmosphere, which she finds "great. People work nonstop, but everyone's got a great attitude." And Venus summed up her feelings in three words: "I'm really excited."
-- Danielle Service