Oh, for the Good Old Days of ’84

Organizers of Atlanta’s Olympic Games concede that some of the drivers they hired for their transport fleet had never sat behind the wheel of a bus before. It shows. And organizers, participants and fans of the 1984 Los Angeles Games can sympathize in a way. Here transit officials whipped would-be motorists into a frenzy of anxiety before they even set out in the morning. “Oh, you’ll be able to get going,” said one official, “but you’ll never get home.” Warnings like those helped keep L.A. traffic light and flowing.

Maybe Atlanta should have taken a cue from L.A. and promised disaster. It didn’t, and may regret it.

Buses that were supposed to carry athletes to their venues have often arrived late, strayed far afield, broken down or never even shown up at all. Some competitors have found themselves disqualified for failing to appear on time. Meanwhile, the system that relays scores and results to broadcasters and the press has had an unfortunate tendency to churn out wrong information. The European Broadcast Union, a consortium of 65 countries that paid $250 million for Olympic rights, says it may demand some of its money back, and Atlanta, at this point, is simply trying to break even--or a bit better--on staging the $1.7-billion Games.

This is the biggest Olympics ever, with athletes competing under nearly 200 different flags. Because a lot of what’s going on is concentrated in a fairly small area, congestion is common. Add Atlanta’s enervating humid heat and you have a sure prescription for tempers that seem to be growing ever shorter. Atlanta’s mayor, for example, has kidded that those who complain about the way things are working out might be taken to shooting competition sites and used as targets.

The organizing committee says it’s ready to spend whatever is needed to fix the transportation and other problems and promises things will soon get better. We hope so. But then, we’re probably spoiled, remembering the standard set by the Los Angeles Games. Ah, the Swiss-watch efficiency, the fine weather. Even the traffic.