The United State’s only chance to see the Olympic flame up close became an elaborate game of hide-and-seek here on Wednesday, as city officials secretly rerouted the planned torch relay, swarmed its runners with blankets of security and then whisked the torch to the airport in a heavily guarded motorcade.

The closing ceremony to mark the flame’s only North American stop was also effectively cancelled in the face of thousands of protesters and supporters, who waited for hours in vain along the flame’s announced route.

Instead, officials decided that the flame would leapfrog protestors and travel on a central avenue about two miles away. There, surrounded by uniformed officers and police on motorcycles, it was run in stop-and-start fashion toward the Golden Gate Bridge, chased by a throng of surprised residents and members of the news media.

About four miles into the route, the torch was placed on a bus and taken to San Francisco’s airport, where it will fly to Buenos Aires, the next stop on the flame’s beleaguered international tour.

San Francisco went to elaborate lengths to avoid the messy chaos of the flame’s trips to London and Paris, employing hundreds of law enforcement officials, miles of barricades and, in the end, subterfuge.

Mayor Gavin Newsom said the decision to change the route was made shortly after the torch was lit, when it was briefly held aloft by Chinese Olympic officials and then promptly taken into a waterfront warehouse. “It was a simple decision,” Newsom said. “Do we cancel the event or do we change the event to assure the safety and security of the torchbearers?”