Piercing Moscow's fortified Olympic village

The following day, at the guard hut, officials wrote out a special pass, then did it all over again so they would have a copy.

I gave up my accreditation card, received the village pass -- and was promptly turned back by the guard at the door. I looked back at the man who had exchanged my Olympic card for the village one. He shrugged. I handed back the village pass, regained my games accreditation, and tried again. This time I got through.

Again it was the baggage X-ray, the metal detector, and the hand search of the briefcase. Onece into the international zone, I crossed over to the gates guarding the apartment houses. In a small white-painted building I found . . . another metal detector, and another X-ray machine for my briefcase. After this, the briefcase was searched by hadn yet again before I was free to enter the living area.

"But as officials," Mr. Coles said when at last I found him in building No. 2 , where the Australian team's 175 athletes occupy 1 stories, "we find security no problem. We can come and go easily."

Administrative Manager John Coates said that in Montreal each bus the team used contained armed guards. In Moscow, two guards rode on each bus but were unarmed.

"It's taking two hours for athletes to go through security at the airport, come here, go through village security, be accredited, and come into their apartments," Mr. Coates said. "In Montreal, it was three hours."

Athletes sleep two to a room. Each floor contains two 2-room and two 3-room apartments. Each apartment has wide hallways, a kitchen, refrigerator, bathroom , and toilet.

"The plumbing isn't up to Australian standards by any means. But apart from that we have everything we need," Mr. Coates said.

It is clear the Soviets have gone all-out to build an impressive village, free from the threat of 1972 Munich-style terror. After the games, the city will use the complex for housing. Officials say about 14,000 people will be assigned to the apartments.

The former wasteland and ravine area has been leveled and embellished with 5, 0000 trees. Shops are run by Japanese and other companies. Repairs for radios, cameras, watches, jewelry, household appliances, leatherware, and shoes are available. Restaurants, cafes, Russian tearooms, and bars can seat 6,000 at a time. A german firm has set up the cafeterias -- the same one that organized the Munich and Montreal village food.

Open-sided mini-bus/trains shuttle every few minutes between apartment houses and the shops and resturants. For training there are three gymnasiums, an indoor pool, three football fields, and a track-and-field stadium.

Right now the entire village is swept by steady, daily rain. But officials insist even the weather will clear for the games.

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