They Take the Bus, Leave the Driving to U.S.

After leaving their dormitories on the first full day of Pan American Games competition Sunday, U.S. swimmers discovered that the bus assigned by their organizing committee to transport them from the athletes’ village to the pool was missing.

An impromptu investigation by U.S. Olympic Committee officials turned up the first hijacking of the games. Athletes from two other countries had found the bus empty, removed the sign designating it for the United States from the window, and ordered the driver to take them to their events.

COPAN, the organizing committee, quickly responded, rerouting another bus to the village to pick up the stranded U.S. swimmers. But other athletes have not been so fortunate as transportation problems that began before Saturday night’s opening ceremonies have become more pronounced.

Even the host country has had difficulty. Eighteen Argentine swimmers had to hitchhike 20 miles from the village to the pool before their competition Sunday.

“Four years’ work we did with the kids, it can be thrown into the wind because of the ineptitude of the people in charge of transportation,” said Argentine Coach Juan Carlos Martin, whose team won a relay bronze medal but had no other finishes higher than fifth in five events.

A Mexican swim coach, Juan Jose Palacios, said he has advised athletes to start trying to catch buses four hours before they are scheduled to swim.

Concerned that transportation would be a problem, the USOC rented vans to carry athletes to and from events.

“But in some sports where we have large teams, such as swimming and soccer, we’ve had to rely on the official buses,” USOC spokesman Mike Moran said.

After a 3-0 loss to Argentina in a game that did not end until after midnight Sunday, U.S. soccer players had to wait 90 minutes for a bus. When they arrived at the village, they found the cafeteria closed. USOC officials insisted that it be opened so the players could eat either a late dinner or an early breakfast.