Bus driver carrying US Olympic athletes gets lost on way to Olympic Village
It’s safe to assume that all of the 2012 Olympic athletes have been anxious to arrive at the Olympic Village and officially get their experience underway, but some of them had to wait a bit longer than others on Monday. As US 400-meter hurdler Karron Clement outlined on his Twitter page, one of the bus drivers that was taking athletes to the Olympic Village on Monday got lost along the way. Unless Clement was exaggerating, it took quite a while for them to get back on track and sounds like there were some pretty restless competitors on board.
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
Believe it or not, the bus driver that was responsible for Clement and company was not the only one who got lost. According to The Daily Telegraph, 30 officials and medical had to rely on the GPS devices on their iPhones to direct their bus driver when he also got lost. Since the Olympic Village is so new, the iPhone was almost no help.
“One of the doctors on board got (the GPS system) 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,” one official said. “In the end another physio got out his iPhone and gave directors to the bus driver via his phone.”
For what it’s worth, Britain’s sports and Olympics minister Hugh Robertson apologized to those who had transportation problems and said the drivers need to know where they’re going. For the athletes who had to sit on a bus for four extra hours, it’s probably worth about as much as the excuse this pilot would give for flying an athlete to the wrong city.
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Well at least the athletes had their Chinese made uniforms on, isn't that all they need to make them happy??
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yea that's all they need...dick comment
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The people hiring the coaches should have used Clarkes of London. I use them for all of my London local-service needs, and they never get lost. Their drivers know where the Olympic Village is. I already have used them to take some of my travelers there.
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Get over yourselves, you pampered athletes.
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Dude, try and stay anywhere that has heat and no true cirrculation and see how you feel. I bet you would have been upset as well and complained all day to anyone who would listen after the first time. These people bust their butts. I bet they could defeat you in their sleep. Learn some respect.
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CORavensFan
Those were track and Field athletes and the are not pampared by any means a lot of those men and women unless they are at the top and are paid by sponsors may only get equipment -
The english driver that has gone through instructions and left from the village could not find it again? I find it hard to believe he must be a huge moron.
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Congress would not stop >U.S. flags, (the symbol of freedom in our country) from being manufactured off shore. Shame on them but now they are saying uniforms for the Olympic Games should be made in the USA. Seems very political of Congress (ie Reid) AND SO WRONG. Most flag manufacturers here in the U.S. A. have been in business since the 1800 (Annin & Co 1847 !!)and early 1900"s. To give their customers the USA flag made in American they formed the FMAA to assure citizens and veterans are getting thier flag made here in the USA Wake up congress. Get it right for our Veterans for sure.
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You do realize this is a story about a bus driver getting lost don't you?
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This is too too much. Where did they recruit their bus drivers from, Easter Island? These drivers only had to learn ONE destination, and they couldn't even manage THAT...??? It's not like they are cabbies, who have to know every street in London. All they needed to know was Airport-to-Village, Village-to-Airport, Airport-to-Village, Village-to-Airport: a SINGLE route, travelled over and over and over. And this was too much for them? Didn't the officials have them practice the run before any athletes arrove? I sure hope this isn't an omen for how the actual Games will be run... Are they going to have blind people judging the gymnastics? People in wheelchairs refereeing soccer?
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The drivers contract was out sourced to INDIA
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Let me guess, these drivers were imported from a different country to escort the athletes, so thats why.
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Nice!!! So the athletes got to see parts of London that they other wise would not have been able to see!!!
