BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS: DAY 3 : SUDDENLY, IT’S FANTASYLAND

The first time U.S. middle-distance runner PattiSue Plumer of Palo Alto, Calif., came to Barcelona to compete, in 1989 for track and field’s World Cup, she was bitten by a dog while training, fell during her race and was drenched by rain in Montjuic Stadium, which was still under construction.

She also complained that the polluted air almost asphyxiated her. “Compared to Barcelona, Los Angeles is the clean-air capital of the world,” she said.

When she returned last year for the Mobil Grand Prix final, her trip was less eventful, but not much more pleasant.

So she was surprised to find the conditions so pleasant when she arrived last week for the Summer Olympics.

“I had a lot of doubts about whether they would be able to pull it off,” she said. “Those other meets were not up to par, especially for a World Cup and a Grand Prix final. They were awful.

“But this is like Disneyland.”

This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.