I've now reached Hungary, to prepare for the 2024 Chess Olympiad. While for players and match arbiters, the hard work begins with round 1, for the Technical Administration Panel (aka the pairings team), hard work starts a few days out.
The main issue is making sure all the teams have arrived. For this year this is especially tricky, as a number of countries have had visa issues (including PNG). So at some point I will be camped at the Airport, trying to catch teams as they come off the plane, to establish if they have all turned up.
Fortunately we have a few days to confirm team arrivals, although in some cases, teams are cutting it very fine in terms of arrival. This isn't that unusual in some cases, including (iirc) my own Olympiad debut in 2000, where I think I arrived on the morning of the first round.
The 1st round for the Olympiad isn't until the 11th (a Wednesday) so you have plenty of time to get prepared. Rounds start at 11pm Canberra time, so you can either choose to stay up late, or catch the summaries the next morning before school/work/coffee!
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