As word spread yesterday of negotiations to revive New York City's Olympic bid by building a stadium in Queens, some long-time advocates of such a move were faced with a conundrum they had not expected: Should they gloat, or should they cheer? Many chose the former route.

"They ignored us," said David Oats, chairman and founder of the Queens Olympic Committee, which has pushed for a Queens stadium since the bid began taking shape. "They ridiculed us. They arrogantly dismissed the idea. They claimed they would never consider it."

"The West Side stadium was a Titanic, and it hit the iceberg, and it sunk into the Hudson," he added. . "I am delighted that they are now considering the Willets Point site, but I wish they had come to us three years ago."

Some of the Democratic candidates vying to take on Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in November's general election echoed that sentiment and said the administration's pursuit of a Queens stadium was evidence of what they considered one of the mayor's biggest faults.

"I am pleased to note the possibility, but it's a little ridiculous that they waited too long," said C. Virginia Fields, the Manhattan borough president, who was an early opponent of the West Side project. "That's the problem with this mayor. He does not listen. He doesn't consider other points of view. And thus he got a single-minded focus and wasted time and money."

Another candidate, Gifford Miller, the City Council speaker, said that he had been calling for a backup plan "for over a year and that "to have tied our entire Olympic bid to the West Side stadium was a bad idea."

Congressman Anthony D. Weiner, who is also running for mayor, said a Queens stadium not only made more sense on its own terms, but it would also be more popular than the West Side version, defeated in Albany.

Mr. Bloomberg was officiating at his daughter's wedding yesterday, putting off until Sunday further talks with the Mets over the use of their stadium - a new one, or an expanded version of their current home - for Olympics use. Team officials, along with the city's Olympics organizers, declined to comment yesterday. Edward Skyler, the mayor's press secretary, said he would not respond to the criticism, but said all options remained open.

Some elected officials from the area remained cautious, warning that if the administration tried to rush the project through without a consensus, it risked creating the same kind of backlash that ultimately scuttled the West Side proposal.

"This is not the kind of decision that can be made overnight," said Councilman John Liu, whose district includes Flushing Meadows, adjacent to the Willets Point site under consideration. "I and others believe that we can save the Olympic bid by seriously considering the Willets Point area. But that doesn't mean that I or other elected officials will simply say, 'Yeah, go ahead and do whatever you want at Willets Point.' "

Jets officials made it clear that they wanted no part of a Queens stadium, though the team played in Flushing for years. Matthew Higgins, a Jets vice president, said that constructing a football stadium in Willets Point would be no cheaper than on the West Side, but would bring in less revenue because of fewer convention events and reduced corporate interest in suites.

At the same time, he said, the city would have to clean up the Willets Point area, now a maze of auto shops and junkyards, and build parking garages to handle 15,000 cars, costing up to $500 million. It would be less expensive, he said, to split the costs of a New Jersey stadium with the Giants.

"The events of the last week have in no way changed what we have said for four years now," Mr. Higgins said. "A Queens open-air football stadium is just not feasible."

The Mets have been locked for days in negotiations with city officials trying desperately to save their bid for the 2012 Olympics, discussing a new stadium in Queens that would also fill the team's longtime desire for a new home.

The Mets became involved with NYC2012 shortly after the West Side stadium plan failed to gain approval last Monday, opening the first door in years for the team to escape the aging Shea Stadium.

Olympic organizers first offered options of renovating Shea or clearing a site for a temporary stadium in the Willets Point area nearby. The Mets could then build a permanent stadium there. But the Mets would prefer a deal that would culminate in a new stadium for them, according to an official with knowledge of the talks who insisted on anonymity to avoid jeopardizing a potential agreement.

There was no indication of progress from the NYC2012 side yesterday. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was officiating the wedding of one of his daughters, and Daniel L. Doctoroff, the deputy mayor and bid founder, attended a college reunion at Harvard. Neither was available for comment. Talks with the Mets are to resume today.

Some kind of plan is expected by tomorrow, when a report is due to the International Olympic Committee. NYC2012 needs to regain some footing in the race before July 6, when the I.O.C. chooses from among New York, Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow for the site of the 2012 Games.

Normally, Bloomberg and Doctoroff would have been expected to attend the Reebok Grand Prix track meet yesterday at Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island, an event that a week ago looked like the perfect setting for NYC2012 to celebrate a few weeks before the I.O.C. vote.

But the city's bid was turned upside down last week. The meet, with a field full of Olympians and world-class talent, proceeded as an elite-level coming-out party for Icahn Stadium, which is billed in the New York Olympic bid as a training facility and a potential site for the 2008 United States Olympic track and field trials.

"There isn't a better place in the world for the Olympics to come to," said Allen Johnson, a former Olympic gold medalist who won the 110-meter hurdles yesterday. "New York can do anything. New York can build anything they need to build."

That kind of confidence has not been reflected by NYC2012 in the days since its plan for a West Side stadium for the Olympics and the Jets was defeated by the state's Public Authorities Control Board.

The Mets play in one of the most drab facilities in Major League Baseball but were among the least likely of the New York-area teams to receive a new home. As recently as a few months ago, Bloomberg said he would like to help the Mets but that the team did not have enough money to help pay for a stadium. In recent years, bid organizers rebuffed suggestions that Queens was a better site for an Olympic stadium.

"They ignored us," said David Oats, chairman and founder of the Queens Olympic Committee, which has pushed for a stadium since the bid began taking shape. "They ridiculed us. They arrogantly dismissed the idea. They claimed they would never consider it.

"The West Side stadium was a Titanic, and it hit the iceberg and it sunk into the Hudson. I am delighted that they are now considering the Willets Point site, but I wish they had come to us three years ago."

The Queens discussions have not involved the Jets, because their first alternative is to join the Giants in a new Meadowlands stadium. Matthew Higgins, a Jets vice president, said building a football stadium in Willets Point would be no less expensive than putting one on the West Side. But a stadium in Queens would bring in less revenue, he said, because there would be fewer convention events and reduced corporate interest in suites.

Mets officials have become increasingly optimistic, but they are trying to be cautious. An e-mail message was sent last week instructing everyone in the organization to decline making public comments. The Mets' public relations director, Jay Horwitz, declined to comment yesterday and said no one in the organization would discuss the matter.

Despite the difficulty in trying to devise a complete stadium plan to satisfy the Mets and the needs of the Olympic bid, talks have had to move quickly. NYC2012 needs to include something in its report to the I.O.C. tomorrow in response to last week's evaluation commission report. Without the Mets' cooperation, NYC2012's fortunes seem as dark as the sky over Icahn Stadium yesterday, the hopes for a grand Olympic-like spectacle now shrouded.

Nicholas Confessore and Lee Jenkins contributed reporting for this article.