Is IOC exploiting volunteers in Rio?

Volunteers work to repair wind damage on a court during the tennis competition at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday. /AP-Yonhap

By Choi Ha-young

Everybody working for the Rio Olympics may be the same when it comes to dedicating themselves to making the Games a success. But there is a big gap when it comes to pay.

Simply put, some are paid well and many are not, even though all are equally labeled “volunteers” ― the International Olympic Committee (IOC) calls its president and executives “volunteers.”

According to the Associated Press, volunteers belonging to the IOC are paid $900 a day, while nothing is given to the “real” volunteers who applied for the positions with a sheer commitment to propping up the Games. This gap has discouraged scores of unpaid volunteers, many of whom have stopped contributing.

Nearly 30 percent of non-paid volunteers have vanished from their designated venues since the Games’ opening, according to AP.

“If we have a tough day, next morning some of them don’t show up,” Mario Andrada, a spokesman for the Rio Games, was quoted as saying in an AP report. This figure is expected to increase given that non-paid volunteers are normally designated to handle the tough work.