The four athletes who will represent the United States in the men's quad sculls in next month's Olympic Games are stripped to the waist as they move quickly from weight machine to weight machine. Sweat mats their hair and drenches their shorts in the still, humid air.

``It's getting warmer. They have to drink plenty,'' coach Igor Grinko says as he watches the four men work.

When the athletes finish their workout, Mr. Grinko can't very well tell the rowers to ``hit the showers.'' There are none. The only running water near the warehouse is a fire hydrant, which has been rigged with a garden hose. The ``restroom'' is a portable toilet that could double as a 120-degree sauna under the cloudless June sky.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

Two years ago, when an Augusta delegation convinced the U.S. Rowing Association to move the sculling center from Occoquan, Va., to Augusta, plans were to build a boathouse, complete with a climate-controlled weight room, showers and meeting rooms.

But despite an anonymous gift of $150,000 and a $50,000 grant from Gov. Zell Miller for pre-Olympic training, the scullers continue to train from a deteriorating building that leaks when it rains and has proven difficult to safeguard from vandals.

A short hop over a chain-link fence gives vandals access to more than $500,000 worth of boats and equipment through gaping holes in the warehouse walls that were only supposed to be a temporary home to the team.

In October, $10,000 worth of aluminum riggers were stolen from the building. In November, vandals destroyed the floating dock that gives scullers access to the Savannah River from their warehouse off Riverfront Drive.

``I don't know if Augusta just promised more than they could deliver. It's unfortunate,'' said Hartmut Buschbacher, national women's rowing team coach.

Several factors, dating back to before 1990, have kept a permanent boathouse from being built as quickly as planned. The club wanted to build a boathouse on Riverwalk near Fifth Street for security. A previous boathouse had been burned in 1986 in the isolated section of town where the current boathouse is planned.

But that plan was shot down by the city and members of Augusta Tomorrow, who prevailed in their plans to put a motorboat marina at that location. More recently, an agreement to lease riverfront city land last year was put on hold while city leaders were waiting to see if consolidation would become a reality.

``Everyone is disappointed we were unable to complete the boathouse before the Olympics,'' said Dr. George Fry, club liaison to the Olympic team.

Relief is in sight, but it might come too late to help this year's crop of Olympic rowers.

Two weeks ago, officials from the rowing club and the Augusta Commission made the final arrangements to buy a vacant riverside restaurant building to house the rowing club and the sculling center. Construction workers began preparations last week to pour a concrete floor underneath the restaurant, part of which overhangs the Savannah River from its stilt structure.

When the building is purchased and completely renovated, it will cost more than $700,000 - including more than $600,000 in city money - and will house the rowing shells and equipment for the club and the Olympic scullers.

But construction estimates put completion of the project in late September or early October, months after the Olympic torch is extinguished in Atlanta. The first phase - construction of an air-conditioned weight room - will take about a month to complete, Wally Davis, project supervisor, said.

In the meantime, Augusta has committed to being host not only the scullers, but most of the U.S. Women's Rowing Team and canoe, rowing and kayaking teams from Norway, Lithuania and the Ukraine. The first foreign teams are scheduled to arrive around July 5 to adjust to the Georgia climate in preparation for the Olympic races on Gainesville's Lake Lanier.

``If we have to, we'll put the weights on the second floor, which is already air-conditioned. We'll try to do as much as we can to keep our promise,'' said former club President Larry Fletcher, who is overseeing the boathouse project.

Even if the first phase of construction is completed by July 5, the rowers won't have access to either the building or the Savannah River for five days in the middle of their training.

The Augusta Southern National drag boat races - normally held the third weekend in July - have been moved up to July 12, 13 and 14 because organizers don't want to compete for an audience with the opening days of the Games.

``They (rowers) will not have access to that area from a day before the races to the day after. We've got to do setup on the day before and we have to do some breaking down the day after,'' said Jeffrey Banks, executive chairman of the drag boat event in Augusta.

Rowers will train at Langley Pond in South Carolina during those days.

``It's not an ideal situation, but we've been able to make adjustments,'' said Mr. Fletcher, who said the rowers had already planned to make extensive use of the marked, 2,000-meter course on Langley Pond during the weeks before the Games. ``It's my understanding they were just going to use the Savannah River for endurance training and do the speed work at Langley Pond.''

Mr. Buschbacher, the women's rowing coach said he plans to bring his team to the Augusta area by July 7 for 11 days before they move to the Olympic Village in Atlanta. None of that time will be spent on the Savannah River.

``We will stay in Aiken. There's no reason for us to go to Augusta now,'' Mr. Buschbacher said.

Although there are no plans to move the sculling center before the 1996 Games, rowing officials say Augusta could lose the center afterward.

``After the Olympics, we are going to re-evaluate all our training centers. That's not a threat, that's just a reality. We have to do what's best for the athletes and the sport of rowing,'' said Frank Coyle, executive director of the U.S. Rowing Association, the governing body for the sport in the United States.

The quick completion of the boathouse would be a big point in Augusta's favor during discussions to keep the sculling center here to prepare athletes for the 2000 Games in Australia, Mr. Coyle said.