Swedish Olympic Team Stops By at Volvo
The 2008 Olympics will be held in Beijing on 08/08/08. But the Swedish Olympic Team is already hot on their heels with practicing for the games. Aside from the athletes spending many hours doing strength training for their particular sport, they also do team building activities to strengthen the team’s bond. The Swedish Olympic Team got together last November 8 and 9 for the Olympic Camp in Beijing and on the list of their team building activities was a trip to Volvo in Göteborg.
100 athletes and their coaches trooped to the Volvo production plant to try out various Volvo vehicles in the Volvo Demo Centre. As part of the team building activity, the athletes were challenged to reverse a Volvo truck that was filled with gravel. The truck itself was already a big thing to maneuver but what made the challenge more exciting was that the athletes had to do so without the help of rear – view mirrors. Whomever was driving would have to rely on his or her team mates to give directions while backing up the rear view mirror – less truck.
The idea of the exercise was to build trust amongst the Swedish team mates. The athletes enjoyed the “exercise”. Hurdler Susanna Kallur says, “It was easier than I expected. Getting together like this isn’t just great fun, it’s also a vital tool for forging a good team spirit among everyone on the Olympic team”.
The Volvo corporation has long been known to be solid supporters of the Swedish Olympic Committee. The athletes’ and coaches’ visit to the Volvo production plant was capped off with a dinner at the Volvo Group’s headquarters. The entire Swedish Olympic team, representatives of the Volvo Group and previous Swedish Olympic gold medallists got together for a night of good food, fun and camaraderie.
