Birmingham 2022 volunteer-applicant Chris Dunn-Veale is hopeful that next year’s Commonwealth Games will be a family affair.
After being involved in the opening ceremony in Weymouth for the 2012 Olympics, Dunn-Veale is keen to play his part in Birmingham.
The man from Salisbury – who applied for a volunteering role in September 2020 – is hoping to be shoulder-to-shoulder with world-class athletes such as Adam Peaty and the Brownlee brothers (Jonny and Alistair), but it could be a family affair, with his second cousin hopeful of being at the event.
“I actually found out recently that my second cousin is competing to be a weightlifter for the English team,” said Dunn-Veale.
“My cousin said to me, ‘do you know that your second cousin is training and he has three or four big events coming up for qualification?’.
“That’d be really cool to be able to be one of the crew at where he might be weightlifting. I’ll be like ‘that’s my cousin!’.
If his application is successful, Dunn-Veale will find out what venues he will be working at in February.
As a big fan of swimming and diving, he’d love to help out at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre, but being able to watch his second cousin would be a dream.
“At least if I’m there, he’ll have some family with him, because I’m not sure how the tickets work with family members. He may be up there on his own, but it would be amazing if I could be there with him.
“Seeing my second cousin there would be one of those family moments that we would talk about for years to come.”
