Members of the Australian and American teams were taken on an unexpected marathon trip across the city of London after their team buses lost their way while traveling from Heathrow Airport to the Olympic Park.
The Australians were among the first wave of the 16,500 athletes due to compete at the Olympic Games to arrive in London, and their hopes for a speedy transfer from the airport to the athletes' accommodation, which opened on Monday, were dashed when their bus driver lost the way, and it took them around three-and-a-half-hours to reach their destination.
The bus driver containing the Australian contingent of 30 officials and medical staff took his passengers past Buckingham Palace and the back streets of West Ham.
But the bus driver hired by London Olympic organisers had not driven or been shown the route before, and could not operate the GPS navigation system fitted in the vehicle.
"Buckingham Palace, on the way to the Olympic Village? Not the most direct route, Monopoly tour maybe! Mayfair next?" The Telegraph quoted Australian sailor Elise Rechichi, as saying.
A separate London 2012 bus carrying American athletes got so badly lost it took four hours to make the 23-mile trip across the capital.
The slip-ups came an embarrassment to London's Olympic organisers, especially as Monday marked the point at which the world's media began to take a special interest in the event.
But Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy thought that particular delay might have been overstated.
Hendry said: "I can't believe it would have been four hours - they would have had to get seriously lost. They would have been at Southend rather than the Olympic Park. They would have seen the whole of south-east England."
