The Olympic Getaway

There will be no such rotation for the estimated 140 members of U.S. Olympic teams and their 60 coaches and trainers. They will stay in the Village. This is more than a show of solidarity on the part of the host nation, according to Bob Paul, director of communications for the U.S. Olympic Committee . "We always stay in the Village provided," he says. "We ask no questions." As for the revolt, "We have no reaction to it because we're not part of it."

Hank Tauber , the U.S. Alpine director, admits that facilities have been better at past Winter Games. The Lake Placid Village, he says, is, well, utilitarian. "The basic promise is that they feed you and give you a flat place to lie down," he says, "but I would recommend that we pick teams made up of emotionally strong and well-balanced athletes for this Olympics."

For his part, Lord Killanin seemed to be looking firmly the other way, merely noting that the federations had inspected the venues and pronounced them perfect. But then came the glimmer of a sly revolt from within his own ranks.

The IOC officials, a closed circle of doughty, blue-blazered and often over-aged gentlemen, will be staying at the Lake Placid Club, a tastefully elegant old mausoleum overlooking the lake. But the International Ski Federation 's Marc Hodler , who is also an IOC executive, insisted last week that he was firmly determined to move into the Village, "in one of those windowless cabins where the air-conditioning noise is horrible, so that my quarters at the club will be available for athletes. They need all the rest they can get."

Moreover, Hodler said he will offer a motion at the forthcoming IOC meeting in Montevideo that other IOC officials also give up their rooms at the club for the bunk beds of the Village. "With the exodus of national teams from the official Village, and with IOC officials making their club quarters available, I think we can relieve most of the overcrowding in the future prison compound," he said.

Meanwhile, at Lake Placid the controversy has created conflict among other factions in the town that normally would stand well above such secular matters. In February, a group of 62 clergymen, most of them Protestant, sharply criticized the idea of using a prison as an Olympic Village as being "morally wrong" as well as "generally grotesque." Scarcely had this statement been released when the Senate of Priests and the Bishop of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, which includes Lake Placid , cracked back with its own declaration: "Concerning the sleeping quarters, some have objected that these will be rather small. We hope that the Olympic athletes and their coaches will be patient. Such an understanding attitude will promote a spartan spirit which has been a tradition among athletes since the beginning of the Olympic Games.... At least the quarters will be warm and safe and the services will be adequate."

All of which leaves it up in the air as to exactly who stands on the side of the angels in this controversy—the prisoners or the Olympians.