The shadow of the Olympic Games is long and the organization of the America's Cup knows it well. Comparisons can be hateful and in this case they mean pressure for the most important international sailing competition, which will celebrate its 37th edition in Barcelona between August and October next year. But it is also a stimulus. The Catalan capital had 35,000 volunteers for the great event of 1992, which at the time was considered the best in history. They are many more than the 2,300 planned for the nautical event in 2024. However, despite the distances, citizen complicity is sought to revive that which surprised the world more than 30 years ago. The goal, once again, is to make history.
The countdown to that support has begun. The organization presented the volunteer program yesterday at the headquarters of the Barcelona Capital Nàutica Foundation, and opened registrations on its website (americascup.com/volunteers). All those interested who are 18 years old on the 31st of December who speak one of the official languages (Catalan, Spanish or English) can submit their application. The process will remain open until the end of November. The review of candidacies will take place until February. Then the personal interviews will take place and, finally, between May and August, the training, which will have a digital part and another face-to-face.
"We look to continue with the tune of the Olympic Games, which was largely due to the volunteers", recalled Grant Dalton, executive director of the America's Cup Event (ACE) and head of the Emirates Team New Zealand, defender of the trophy , who highlighted the program because "it is important to find an experience similar to everything that was experienced in Barcelona'92 and to contact society so that the city feels so much emotion again".
"One of the biggest challenges is involving the public, and it is one of the most difficult. It's a long-term project and that's why we're starting it today", said Ignasi Armengol, general director of the Barcelona Capital Nàutica Foundation, which brings together the support of the administrations and collaborates with the organization. "We want it to be one of the levers, possibly the most important, to convey to the public the values of the America's Cup, which are team sport, innovation, oceanic sustainability...", he added this official, who admitted that the comparisons with 92 mean "a pressure", but trusts that it will be positive. "Thirty years later we still remember how it was done - he postulated -. It's a legacy project and now we want to do it again."
The forecast of 2,300 volunteers is the largest number in the history of the America's Cup. It quadruples those of the previous editions, that of Auckland (New Zealand), from 2021, and that of Hamilton (Bermuda), from 2017, which were around 600. The 2013 World Swimming Championships in Barcelona had an amount similar, 2,500.
The person in charge of the volunteer program, Xavier Prat, also emphasized that the organization has set out to "recover the spirit of '92" to get the involvement of these people who will collaborate directly in the celebration and will be the tip of Team B, "the home team, the one from Barcelona, open, inclusive and local but with an international outlook", which will cover the needs of the event and have a positive impact on the Catalan capital. There are two key groups in this effort: the maritime community and the residents of the neighborhoods closest to the regatta field, mainly Ciutat Vella. "They are fundamental - he commented - if we don't manage to impact them, the project loses much of its meaning".
Those interested will have to be available in one of the six shifts of ten consecutive days - out of the total of 68 days that this edition is expected to last, so the last one will be a little longer - in morning, noon or afternoon, with a dedication of six hours a day. On a test day there will be around 430 volunteers. The organization has set about 50 roles distributed in three areas: water (competition), for which 300 have been planned, land (fan zone and other spaces focused mainly on the experience of the spectator), with 1,800 , and television and media (200).
