From sword to pen: Olympic role revision
Martina's revised volunteer role at the Paris 2024 Olympics is in the Press Box …
Assisting spectators to the Grand Palais seating areas for the Olympic and Paralympic fencing competitions is no longer on – my role revision is bigger, better, bolder! For the Paralympics, I’ll be full-time, front-line as Press Tribune Member as part of the Press Operations. From sword to pen. And who said, “the pen is mightier than the sword”?
I adore fencing, but Press is my passion. Still in the Grand Palais venue, I’ll also be looking forward to volunteering within the walls of the magnificent building.
I have commenced “specific role training” and will soon be undertaking “venue training” onsite in the actual venue. For now, I know what I can and cannot wear, what I can and cannot do, what I can and cannot say, and what I can and cannot bring, what I can and cannot eat, what I can and cannot drink, what transport I can and cannot catch, where I can and cannot go, and what areas I can and cannot access. It’s all rather exciting.
So, what is this Press Tribune thing? More later, but for now, according to the training to date, it is this: the Press Tribune is often known as the Press Box.
The Press Box is a designated where the accredited press can watch the action, the Games events from the stands. There are tabled tribunes and non-tabled tribunes. The tabled tribunes are designed to have a seat in the stands with a desk to work at – with power, internet and sometimes TV monitors. The non-tabled tribunes are seats only.
In summary, my volunteer role will be to ensure the smooth running of the Press Tribune by supervising the seating and assisting the Press journalists with enquiries and the distribution of information so that they can get the Paralympics news out to the world. Like the athletes, the Press are selected to represent their country or the media outlets of their organization.
The Press produce content for print newspapers or magazines, so they need to have content and photos published instantly on websites and news feeds. They will be constantly under pressure to deliver quickly. Publish or perish, the Press say.
So, who did say, “the pen is mightier than the sword”? It’s thought to be English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton that wrote the phrase in his 1839 play Richelieu – well before the first Games of the modern Olympic era in 1896. Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) was an author and politician. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies in the British Conservative government for a year from 1858-1859.
Not only did he coin the phrase “the pen is mightier than the sword” but, even though he won the Chancellor’s Gold Medal at Trinity College for English verse, he also wrote the awful opening sentence of his 1830 novel Paul Clifford, “It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents – except at occasional intervals …”
His last finished novel, published in 1873, the year of his death, was The Parisians.Befitting!
MY PARIS WEBSITE AND ALL THINGS PARISIAN
Can’t see the whole article? Want to view the original article? Want to view more articles? Go to Martina’s Substack: The Stories in You and Me
Wow how exciting Martina - can’t wait to hear more ✍️📝🖋️🖊️💕💐🚴♀️🏊♂️