The IOC granted staff at its Lausanne headquarters four days of leave to enter the process of becoming volunteers for the third Winter Youth Olympic Games, which will run from January 9 to 22.

This initiative mirrors the scheme used ahead of the last edition of the event in Lillehammer four years ago.

"The IOC wants to offer its employees the opportunity to be part of the unique experience of the Youth Olympic Games,” Xavier Tissières, director of human resources at the IOC, said.

"We are convinced that it is a win-win situation: on the one hand, this is a great source of pride for all of our employees to be part of an edition of the Youth Olympics that will take place in their hometown and, on the other hand, the organisation will benefit from that on-the-field-of-play experience because its employees were part of the delivery of the event and will know how to better perform in their function."

Other organisations in the city, such as the International Equestrian Federation - which grants staff five additional days of leave to volunteer at events like Lausanne 2020 - will be offering their employees similar opportunities.

"I would like to say we came up with this grand plan but, actually, we had seen in recent years a growing trend with our staff volunteering at major events and we realised this was actually really beneficial to the FEI," said FEI secretary general Sabrina Ibáñez.

"We are fortunate to have an engaged workforce who really care about what they do and how they can develop, so that's how we came up with the policy and the five days.

"It has been popular and we have several requests already for Lausanne 2020 and I am sure there will be more for Tokyo 2020.”

Nicole Sigrist, who works in the FEI’s communications department, is among those taking advantage of the initiative to offer her time to Lausanne 2020.

"I like sports in general, more specifically ice hockey, and wanted to discover the Youth Olympic Games organisation from the inside," she said.

"Volunteering is a very good option for this; moreover, being a Lausannoise, I really wanted to actively participate in the event.

"The opportunity to participate in such big events is not that frequent in Switzerland, even less so in Lausanne.

"So it is an occasion that I did not want to miss."