THE head of the Bermuda Olympic Association, John Hoskins, has just returned from a meeting for all Chef de Missions at the Pan American Games and toured most of the sites as well as the Athletes Village in the Dominican Republic.

And he said yesterday that construction of the venues and Athletes Village will go right down to the wire.

But Hoskins said he was confident the venues, for the most part, will be ready for the invasion of thousands of athletes and officials from 41 countries when the games start on August 1. They continue until August 17.

For the past year there have been worries about whether the Dominican Republic was up to building the vast facilities which the Pan Am Games need.

Hoskins said he hoped that everything will be in order when Bermuda's expected large team arrives, adding that it could be touch and go for some facilities.

"We had a chance to inspect most of the facilities and the Athletes Village when the meeting was held earlier this month. There is a tremendous amount of work still to be done but there were a large number of workmen on the sites. And as they finish off one site they then move on to the others. I have a feeling that most of the competition sites will be fine.

"The accommodation (in the Athletes Village) will be pretty basic - I imagine that we will have to sort out the airconditioning or fans or whatever we have to use. Not much has been completed at the Village but we expect it to be OK - not in great shape - by the time we get there."

Hoskins added that Bermuda has competed in past events where the accommodations were "very bad" - places like Puerto Rico and Venezuela. "I think the Athletes Village at Santo Domingo will be acceptable."

The BOA chief said the other area of concern for the Chef de Missions were the catering and International Centre around the Village where the athletes mingle socially. "Work had barely started when we were there. They have to do a lot of work."

The dining facilities could be a problem but he said they would be in temporary buildings anyway. As for the food, Hoskins said it will be done by the same firm which handled the CAC Games. "The food there was quite good so I don't think there will be any worries about that."

And of course there were concerns by officials from the member countries about the security arrangements. "Security concerns are the same the world over especially when you have a large American team as the Pan Am Games does. The Americans are aware of everything though." The United States has the largest pre-registered list of athletes and officials with 1,010, of which 713 are athletes.

One issue which is not a concern is SARS. "It is not an issue there," said Hoskins. "The Caribbean has not been affected by SARS and the only team where it could be a concern will be the Canadians."

Bermuda's team is expected to quite large. While Hoskins said it may number up to 30, he expected it to be about 20 following the late qualifying.

"We potentially have entries in track and field, sailing, diving and swimming. There are also athletes in bowling, cycling, possibly boxing, squash and triathlon. However I now understand that our triathlete Tyler Butterfield is unlikely to compete."

Hoskins said there may be a couple of squash players competing but Bermuda has not qualified. "But we are first reserve so if someone drops out then we are in," he added.

No cyclist has qualified under the system set out originally by the organisers. Hoskins said that the events where the cyclists could have qualified were not known to Bermuda's athletes. Bermuda have asked for a review of the situation and Hoskins understands that the island has gained one spot and are awaiting confirmation for another spot. "It will be the road race and time trial but we don't know whether it will be a male or female rider," he said.

There could be two boxers going to the games. "We have two fellows (Trace Easton and Sharieff Wales) who competed very well in the Bahamas (the Caribbean Boxing Championships) recently and we understand there is another qualifying event. We will have to wait and see."

The track team should compromise of veteran triple jumper Brian Wellman as well as sprinter Xavier James, long jumper De-Von Bean, middle distance runners Ashley Couper and Tamicka Williams and maybe a couple more.

Hoskins said: "We are waiting for the local governing body (Bermuda Track and Field Association) for the full results of their athletes' participation on two meets before we can finalise the track team. Actually we are waiting for most of the governing bodies to give us information - this is becoming quite urgent now - we need more detailed numbers as we have to get uniforms made. We want all governing bodies to get the information to us as quickly as possible. We will be holding a managers' meeting next Wednesday and hopefully we will get a lot of this information in then so we can have a more accurate number of the athletes going."

Zander Kirkland in the Laser and Malcolm Smith in the Sunfish will also be leading Bermuda's quest for medals. "I think our sailing will be quite strong," said Hoskins.

For a while there was a problem in Smith going in the Sunfish class. "We did receive an indication that the Sunfish was not included as the Pan Am Games organising committee said that the games should be the same as the Olympic Games and that only Olympic classes would participate. But we asked for a review of the situation and they have reviewed it and we are waiting for confirmation that they will include the Sunfish class as was in the original schedule - and we are confident that they will do so. It just appears to have been a misunderstanding."

The final date for countries to register for the games is July 17 at midnight.

So far the number of pre-registered athletes and officials (including trainers and delegates) is more than 9,000 people, organisers said earlier this month. The number does not include judges and referees.

The final list of athletes from each country is expected to be much lower because not all will meet qualification requirements to compete in the games.

The host country has pre-registered 764 people, including 562 athletes, Pan Am officials said.