2008年奥运会及残疾人奥运会马术比赛志愿者计划24日在香港正式启动。首批志愿者约200人，是从6240位报名者中挑选出来的，他们将在3月2日至4日参加第一次集训。首批志愿者将成为北京奥运会马术比赛志愿者队伍中的核心力量，他们将在今年夏天的马术测试赛上首次上岗服务。

Some 200 people chosen as volunteer leaders for the 2008 Olympic equestrian¹ event Saturday joined in the orientation² ceremony to kick off the Hong Kong equestrian volunteer program.

The leaders, who must be fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin³ and English, will take part in a two-day course to learn basic knowledge on the event and how to make it part of the 2008 Games held for the first time on Chinese soil.

The volunteers will be deployed⁴ to a myriad⁵ of responsibility areas ranging from competition beijing2008.cn/06/78/emap.shtml?categrey=331' target=_blank>venues to translation to media support, said the organizers.

At the ceremony, the equestrian company's chief executive officer, Lam Woon-Kwong, reminded those volunteer leaders that they should be aware that they are serving on the very front-line, that they are the ambassadors of our nation and that they are making part of the Olympic history.

Each volunteer was given a "smile wristlet," a token of their unity⁶ with other Chinese host cities in their meaningful work.

Following the orientation ceremony, volunteers will undergo some 80 hours of training, including residential⁷ training, which will be held in Pl Leung Kuk holiday camp in Sai Kung for two consecutive⁸ weekends in March.

The leadership training programs are tailored for Volunteers in Hong Kong by expert trainers.

Riordan, who also trained volunteers at the Athens and Sydney Olympic Games, said the training program is not simple despite it comes with just one Olympic event.

"The reality is that the equestrian event will be held far away from Beijing and in a separated environment. We need to have volunteers trained to greet guests from the airport, Olympic village and the transport hubs. It is like putting on a mini-Olympics," he said.

Vocabulary:

equestrian event: 马术比赛

Cantonese, Mandarin : 广东话，普通话