THE man in the sweat stained T shirt chose the ultimate simile as we stood and suffered in the train taking us to the Olympic boxing stadium. Passengers, wedged so tightly that it bordered on indecency, in temperatures of over 100F were lost for words. Except for my friend of dangerously close proximity.

"The last time people set out on a train journey like this," he said, "it ended in Belsen".

MARTA, Atlanta's equivalent of the DART, was supposed to take care of the commuter problems which, I suspect, had spread just as much fear in the local populace as the two million visitors assembled here for the Games.

The truth is that, like so much else, MARTA is not delivering on its promise. And the worst, we are told, has yet to come.

Not that you would guess it from the bulletins on local television. For them, this is the festival to end all sporting festivals, a triumph of American planning and organisation.

It's a view that rings hollow with those stuck in the middle of interminable traffic jams or, in the case of media personnel, rooted at the end of a communication system that is often as ineffective as it is complex.

Even the faceless men of the International Olympic Committee are now moved to protest.

With suitable deference to the paymasters of American television and Coca Cola, nobody is as yet, climbing pulpits to admit the errors of their ways. But a member of the august body, shrinking behind the anonymity of a Committee spokesman, admitted there had been some tough talking at their daily conference with members of the local organising committee ACOG.

Referring to the problems in transport and communications, he said: "They are being told - don't wait until tomorrow, get it done today, get it done now."

Already 50 shuttle bus drivers have quit after complaining of heat exhaustion and insufficient training. And talking with some of them in the last few days, that is scarcely surprising.

Some have been brought in from as far away as Philadelphia and Dallas, totally unaware of Atlanta's notorious traffic problems and unfamiliar with the city, to the point where very often, ii is the passengers who advise on the routes to various destinations. Not only that, but the vehicles imported from equally diverse parts are breaking down regularly.

The Olympic swimming pool complex is reputed to hold some - 13,500 spectators of whom as many as 1,000 could be representatives of the media.

To cater for this demand, they saw fit to install two portable toilets which, unfortunately, became fouled up at a relatively early stage of Saturday's programme. The outcome was an affront to the most basic standards of sanitation. And all this, after six years of planning!

There are those who will dismiss such inadequacies as the inevitable consequences of an event which has expanded to the point where it's fast becoming inoperable.

Perhaps. But, in a quarter of a century of covering the Games, I have rarely encountered so much exasperation among people as these allegedly showpiece Games begin to gather momentum.

As yet, of course, we have still to discover the effect of the cruel weather conditions on those taking part in the endurance events such as the marathon. Only then can the IOC's decision to host the Games here, which is becoming more indefensible by the day, be put in proper perspective.

Transport and communication disasters notwithstanding, the heat and drenching humidity threaten to prove the final indictment of those who administer the Olympic movement.

Billy Paine, the former professional footballer, who was primarily responsible for the concept of the Atlanta Olympics, sold the idea to the IOC on the premise that the average temperature in July was 75F. What he omitted to tell them, it seems, was that it referred to a 2.0 a.m. reading!