Groans and gridlock as Atlanta grinds to a halt

OLYMPICS: Ken Jones experiences the daily frustrations of the 'worst-organised' Games as host city wilts in the heat

Approaching a group of smartly attired young volunteers outside the hockey stadium at Clark University on Sunday, an irate reporter registered his contempt for the administration of Atlanta 1996. "You'll be able to tell your grandchildren about the worst-organised Olympics," he declared loudly.

With 250,000 regular commuters added to the crowds heading downtown for 17 events at 11 venues yesterday, Atlanta braced itself for 10 days of chaos. Gridlocked streets and the subway system were under such pressure that passengers were advised to allow two or three hours to reach their destinations. A police spokesman reported "absolutely horrendous" traffic. Parking lots at outlying stations were full by 5.30am.

Simply getting there is the biggest problem in Atlanta. In order to make their marching time for last Friday's opening ceremony, athletes abandoned buses and completed the journey on foot. The USA-Nicaragua baseball game had to be delayed because buses were not ready to transport the players. Fearful of not making their start times, Britain's rowers, Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent, have pulled rank, commandeering one of the cars allocated to BOA officials.

"The worst-organised event I've ever known," said Redgrave, who along with Pinsent, the coxless fours crew - Rupert Obholzer, Tim Foster, Greg and Jonny Searle - were yesterday relocated near Lake Lanier. "Mr Redgrave did not hesitate to inform us of his displeasure," Bob Brennan, a spokesman for the Atlanta Organising Committee, Acog, said.

Graffiti in the main press centre is a wail of frustration - Barcelona, We Miss You. Everyone, it seems, has a tale of woe, missing or broken- down buses and wild blunders in navigation. On Sunday, one of many drivers recruited from other states gave up after discovering that her route to the rowing course at Lake Lanier involved travelling along a main highway. "It frightens me," she said.

Stubbornly, deaf to a mounting clamour of complaint from athletes, team officials and journalists, the International Olympic Committee has insisted that the situation is not unusual. "At present, transportation and technology are our top priorities," Michele Verdier, of the IOC, said, "but the problems are quite normal compared with previous Games."

This is errant nonsense. Nobody remembers a time when so many difficulties were put in the way of competitors and journalists. In the most advanced society on earth, computers fail to provide information. The three-man wire services relaying results to thousands of newspapers world-wide through high-speed lines for which they have each paid $10,000 (pounds 6,450) have been entering them by hand. "We are working like 20 years ago," Michel Henault of the Agence France-Presse said. "We received nothing on the computers from wrestling and weightlifting."

Acog claims to have identified the problem, but cannot guarantee to bring about an improvement. "They weren't admitting to a problem but now they realise they have a big problem," an IOC member, Alex Gilady, said.

Attempting to play down the matter, Brennan said: "I'm told that many of the technology problems are rapidly being resolved." However, things came to a head yesterday when Acog came under fire from the IOC which is clearly embarrassed by a worsening situation.

Anger is understandable. Dick Palmer, the secretary of the British Olympic Association and team chief, yesterday said: "The problems of the transport system have been taken up at the highest level, involving the IOC president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, Billy Payne, president of the organising committee, and Bill Campbell, the mayor of Atlanta. The organisers are wrestling with the problems of transport scheduling, drivers who are unfamiliar with the venues and the poor quality of the buses."

It is already clear that Acog miscalculated seriously when addressing the task it took on with a successful bid for the Olympics, learning little, it seems from the Games of Barcelona and Seoul.

AD Frazier, No 2 in Acog, said it would take a little time to get the transport system working. "It's rather like a dinosaur: Its head makes a decision and 10 minutes later the tail wags."

That the Games have become too big is beyond question. Despite the smiling faces, the goodwill conveyed by local inhabitants is cheapened here by profiteering and tatty vending outlets. Nerves become frayed. Will the buses ever come? Fenced-off streets, growling cops.

Spectators leaving the boxing arena on Sunday were log-jammed on an intersection controlled by US Air Force sergeants. Flooding into oncoming traffic, they were reprimanded by an off-duty police officer. Pouring out of trains at the Peachtree Centre subway station, passengers were confronted by lifeless escalators and a steep 300-step climb to the street. "Does nothing work in this town?" an Australian complained.

Maybe soon, but not yet.