ST. PETERSBURG -- In the humid basement of the Pribaltiskaya Hotel, a young woman in a white lab coat is drowning in an ocean of dirty sweat socks.


"We're doing about five times as much laundry as usual," said Julia, 24, speaking loudly above the dull roar of washing and drying machines. "Mostly sweat suits, socks, things like that."


The hampers are overflowing at the Pribaltiskaya, which has a new name for the duration of the 1994 Goodwill Games: Athletes' Village, home to about 2,000 Russian, European and American athletes.


Two thousand athletes, of course, equals about 4,000 socks.


It also works out at about 1,000 two-liter bottles of spring water and 1,000 of Lucozade Sport Drink, which the athletes are gulping down instead of St. Petersburg's infamous yellowish tap water.


St. Petersburg tap water is infested with giardia, a microbe that brings on a severe stomach ache and diarrhea. Guidebooks to the city recommend brushing one's teeth with bottled water and even avoiding showers -- or at the very least, keeping one's mouth closed while under them.


"The Americans are particularly afraid of the water," said Dianne Brothwell, of England, who organized logistics for the track and field competition that ended last week.


Most athletes seem delighted with the choice of the Pribaltiskaya as Athletes' Village.


The hotel, which stands about 100 meters from the sandy beaches of the Gulf of Finland, is far from the heart of St. Petersburg. But it is also a far cry from the rickety dormitories many athletes are used to at international competitions.


Those too preoccupied with the competition for sightseeing can find nearly everything they need at Athletes' Village. Even before the Goodwill Games, the Pribaltiskaya was home to St. Petersburg's only bowling alley -- two lanes in the basement.


But as Athletes' Village, the hotel has everything from impromptu Delta and Lufthansa booking offices to a sports clinic of Russian, German and American therapists in the basement.


"They're giving about 30 massages a day, and we're seeing about 50 people a day," said George Borden, a doctor from Richmond, Virginia, at the clinic.


Russian and American doctors have very different approaches to dealing with sports injuries, Borden said, and shop talk at the Athletes' Village sports clinic has been enlightening all around.


"They use massage and saunas and baths to aid in recovery far more than we do in America. They use a lot of older techniques that have stood the test of time," he said.


"From us, they're learning the methods we use for taping ankles and such. They don't do much taping, because before they used to have very little tape available in Russia," he said.


Viktor Chernyov, a deputy chef, said the Russians and foreigners ate roughly the same food.


Some American athletes said the food was a bit heavy, but none had serious complaints.


"It's a little different, and so it takes some getting used to," said Jill Sudduth, 22, a competitor in synchronized swimming from California.


"It's a little greasier than we like at home."