Ottawa woman ‘robbed’ of Olympic volunteer dreams after catching COVID

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Caroline Robitaille always dreamed of volunteering at the Olympics. This year, her wish came true — kind of.

One of 45,000 people who accepted a volunteer gig at the 2024 Olympic Games, Robitaille got to Paris on July 22. A longtime public servant based in Ottawa, she was selected to work as a team lead in event services at the Stade de France, where Rugby Sevens and Athletics took place.

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However, after several days of volunteering and exploring the city, Robitaille started feeling sick on Aug. 6. She walked to the pharmacy to buy a box of tests and discovered she had COVID.

What came next was even more disappointing.

Despite sending several emails over the following days to volunteer organizers to ask what protocols existed for people who contracted the illness, which measures were in place to encourage people to protect themselves, and to share which volunteer teams she had been in contact with, Robitaille never got a response to her questions.

The only email she received from organizers wished her well with her recovery, noting that the team hoped to see her back on the ground soon.

“The 45,000 volunteers, there was no guidance, no protocol,” Robitaille said. “I just did whatever I thought was best at the time.”

“I felt so helpless, I wanted to do something to prevent further infection.”

While Paris was dubbed the “post-Pandemic Olympics,” the World Health Organization said more than 40 athletes tested positive for COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases during the Games. The organization said the numbers represented a global rise in cases amid a decline in vaccinations.

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According to the Associated Press, organizers only issued health recommendations during the Games rather than restrictions, which meant athletes could compete while sick with COVID if they wanted to.

“That’s putting people’s lives at risk for no reason,” Robitaille said of the lack of guidelines, adding that she was worried about people who are vulnerable and may have caught it. “I find it frustrating to have come all this way and paid all this money to volunteer.”

After testing positive, she spent a couple of days locked up in her rented apartment watching the Olympics on TV, where she “felt robbed of an opportunity of a lifetime.” Robitaille ventured out with a mask on to see a doctor, who told her she should rest at home.

By the weekend, Robitaille tested negative and went to work a shift at the Games where she found out that her supervisors weren’t even informed of her diagnosis.

“I regretted going back because I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent and it was so hot,” said Robitaille, who found out through social media that several other volunteers and spectators had tested positive. “I actually didn’t finish my shift that day.”

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Despite her illness, she was still able to work most of her shifts. Robitaille said she was able to finish her trip on a high note, being COVID and symptom-free before catching her flight back home Aug. 13.

If she volunteers again, Robitaille said she’ll research the prevalence of COVID beforehand. She added that while the Olympics are still close to her heart, how public health was handled will always be a stain on her first volunteer experience.

“Had I known I was gonna get COVID, I would have not volunteered,” Robitaille said, adding that she went into the experience “blinded” by all the hype. “To me, my health is more important than participating in any event.”

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