But today untrained bus drivers bringing American and Australian athletes from Heathrow to the Olympic village took a four hour magical mystery tour taking in the sights of Buckingham Palace along the way.
The lost drivers were meant to follow the new M4 dedicated Olympics lane all the way to the Olympic Village but instead drove through the back roads of West Ham.
One bus load of athletes took nearly 4 hours to bring the athletes to their Olympic accommodation and another took 3 hours according to reports.
Aussie official Damian Kelly said “It would have been a great tourist trip if that is what you are here for.”
“One of the doctors on board got it working for him, but then the Olympic Village hadn’t been loaded into the system and everyone was trying to find the name of the street that the village was in. In the end another physio got out his iPhone and gave directors to the bus driver via his phone.” Kelly told The Daily Telegraph.
“They had the scenic view of London, they had the chance to see more of our beautiful scenery than they bargained for,” said London mayor Boris Johnson.
A spokesperson for LOCOG said “We will do over 100 bus journeys today. It is day one and we have only had one or two issues where journeys have taken longer than planned. The vast majority of journeys have been fine.”
Here’s what US hurdles champ Kerron Clement was tweeting during the unfortunate journey…
Um, so we’ve been lost on the road for 4hrs. Not a good first impression London.
— Kerron Clement (@KerronClement) July 16, 2012
Athletes are sleepy, hungry and need to pee. Could we get to the Olympic Village please.
— Kerron Clement (@KerronClement) July 16, 2012
Main images – Olympic village & Kerron Clement (Getty)
