"The biggest challenge for me as a flash quote reporter is getting the quotes exactly and being able to write down fast what the athletes are saying," Jason Myles from Purdue University of the United States said after having a hard time in dictation practice on Tuesday.

Myles is one of the 292 international Olympic media operation volunteers from 10 universities in the United States, Britain and Australia; among whom about 210 will work as flash quote reporters (FQRs) at all 31 competition venues during the upcoming Olympics.

The FQRs started in Beijing on Tuesday their two-day training on Olympic news service (ONS) by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) and they are going to have the training on team work the next day.

Nick Leonard, deputy ONS manager of the Main Press Center (MPC) Venue Operation Team, who is responsible for the training course, suggested the volunteers should be an observer, not a spectator during their work.

Leonard clarified his point by setting an example of himself, saying when he worked as a flash quote report in the 2000 Sydney Olympic basketball tournament, he missed the last crucial part of the match because he had to rush to the mixed zone of press area in advance interview.

"You have to realize that what you are there for. You are there to be a worker. You are not there to watch (the match) with your friends, but you are there to do your job and watching something is part of the job," he said.

Leonard told Xinhua that he considered confidence, enthusiasm and quick thinking as important qualities that an ONS volunteer should have, adding other qualities as shorthand, short memory, interview technique and sense of news are also needed.

During the training, when asked if they have learned shorthand, no more than 10 volunteers put up their hands. Nick Compton from the University of Iowa in the United States was one of these who felt a bit difficult to taking quotes down while listening to video scripts of previous games.

"It's hard to take all things down, especially when the speaker has a different accent," Compton said.

Compton was echoed by Myles, who said he has been practicing (shorthand). "I'm fresh as a reporter. The first couple of days I will feel nervous, but I'll keep doing practices and it's a good experience for me."

(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2008)