The Utah contingent simply joined massive crowds of Tibetans and other protesters lining the San Francisco streets and repeatedly engaged in tense verbal battles with Chinese Americans, making it impossible for the torch carriers engaged in a symbolic journey to the Beijing Games to run the planned route.

Less than an hour before the relay began, officials cut the original six-mile route nearly in half. Then, at the opening ceremony, the first torchbearer took the flame from a lantern brought to the stage and held it aloft before running into a warehouse. A motorcycle escort departed, but the torchbearer was nowhere in sight.

Officials drove the Olympic torch about a mile inland and handed it off to two runners, away from pro-Tibet and pro-China protesters, and they began jogging toward the Golden Gate Bridge, in the opposite direction of the crowds awaiting its passing. Further confusion followed, with the torch convoy apparently stopping near the bridge before heading southward to the airport, where the closing ceremony was held. Frustrated onlookers tried to find out the route, relying on text messages to keep them informed of the torch's whereabouts. Several false leads had scores of Tibetans chasing up empty streets.

Many were unhappy they were prevented from witnessing an historic moment, but Utahn Sam Chagzoetsang was pleased with the day's outcome.

"It was a great success. We got our point across, and I didn't even have to get arrested," said Chagzoetsang, a University of Utah student. "It's actually gratifying because it means we are winning. We have the upper hand. The Chinese couldn't do the relay the way they wanted it. They could barely keep it on U.S. soil."

The best thing, he said, was that they were able to do it without violence.

Thirty-four of Utah's 150 Tibetans, ranging in age from 7 to the late 50s, traveled by van from Salt Lake City to participate in the protest.

They painted their faces with the words, "Free Tibet," and used a megaphone to lead chants, such as "Stop the killing . . . In Tibet" or "United Nation . . . We want justice." They sang the Tibetan national anthem, and even the young ones conversed in Tibetan, a language the Utahns continue to speak in their homes.

"We just want to let the whole world know something bad is going on in Tibet," said 44-year-old Lobsang Gendun, a machinist at O.C. Tanner Co. in Salt Lake City. Gendun was raised among the exiled Tibetans living in northern India. "We do not want to do violence. We just hope that because of the demonstrations and protest that the Chinese government will talk to the Dalai Lama."

Tensen Gyaltsen, a University of Utah political science student, believes it is her duty to speak out, even though she has never lived in Tibet.

"Tibetan people have taken such risks. They've been shot at, arrested and killed," she said. "We live in a free society. It's a huge inspiration to me."

Many other groups and individuals held banners and posters supporting the Tibetan cause, including Chris Berland of Santa Rosa, Calif., who held a placard that read: "Another Mormon for a Free Tibet."

"It's important for Mormons to be thinking about these [political] questions," Berland said. "Brigham Young was a progressive. Mormons forget that."

The torch's 85,000-mile, 20-nation journey is the longest in Olympic history, and is meant to build excitement for the Beijing Games. But it has also been targeted by activists across the globe who are angry about China's human rights record. The Olympic flame began its trek from ancient Olympia in Greece on March 24, and was the focus of protests right from the start.

Peter Ueberroth, chairman of the United States Olympic Committee, said the U.S. had struck the right balance between preserving freedom of speech for protesters, providing an exhilarating experience for the torchbearers, and preventing a repeat of the chaotic demonstrations that accompanied the torch in London and Paris.

''As close as anybody can do in a free society, so far it's looking very good,'' Ueberroth said. ''Virtually anybody and everybody is being heard.''

San Francisco was chosen to host the relay in part because of its large Chinese-American population.

In Beijing, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday to discuss preparations for the Games and ''a range of Games topics were discussed,'' the IOC said.

Rogge is to give more details at a news conference Friday, when the IOC's executive board is to discuss whether to end the remaining international legs of the relay after San Francisco because of widespread protest. The torch is scheduled to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then to a dozen other countries before arriving in China on May 4. The Olympics begin Aug. 8.

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* THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed to this story.