Displayed last week on large screens inside a Palmer House Hilton ballroom, the Olympic housing and most of the 27 sports venues were nestled like picturesque Swiss villages between the city's Alpine skyscrapers and a pristine Lake Michigan.

Smiling visitors poured out of shiny subways, buses and trains, all upgraded by a projected $3 billion worth of regional improvements. They headed for the sporting events that would highlight the 17-day urban festival, or to the Midwestern city's hotels, restaurants, theaters, parks and museums.

It all looked so natural. Chicago, the nation's third-largest city, has never hoisted an Olympics on its fabled shoulders. It has passionate sports fans, a diverse population, strong political leadership, sound finances, plenty of corporate clout, and a remarkable urban infrastructure.

Organizers have estimated $2.5 billion in revenue and guaranteed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) $500 million if the Games somehow wound up in the red. And just this week a poll, commissioned by the organizing committee, revealed that 84 percent of Chicagoans supported playing host to the world's greatest international event.

So it was surprising when, during last week's 2008 U.S. Olympic team media summit here, Peter Ueberroth downplayed Chicago's chances of beating out the six other contending cities, which include Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid, Spain.

Chicago is "certainly not first," the chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) said during an interview, as Chicago 2016 committee members listened from the rear of the ballroom. "I think they are improving, but they are certainly not first."

The reasons for the IOC's perceived skepticism about Chicago 2016 remain vague.

Some believe there is a lingering anti-Americanism in the post-Iraq IOC. Some say Chicago is relatively unknown to those whose knowledge of the United States is limited to its coasts. And others suggest it might simply make better sense to award the Games to Rio, since South America has never hosted a Games, winter or summer; or to Madrid, since the 1992 Olympics, in another Spanish city, Barcelona, were a spectacular success.

Ueberroth would say only that Chicago was a "rookie in this arena" and that the IOC's decision-making process was "totally unpredictable."

Jim Scherr, the USOC's chief executive officer, whose twin brother, Bill, is a Chicago 2016 board member, noted that IOC officials raised numerous questions about the bid during a recent meeting in Beijing, where the 2008 Games will be held this summer.

The question were "about the specifics of the bid and the plans," explained Scherr, without specifying any.

Pat Ryan, Chicago 2016's chairman and CEO, is founder of the insurance giant Aon. He would like to bring IOC members to Chicago, but rules instituted after a bidding scandal in Salt Lake City prohibit that.

Once the IOC narrows the field of applicants to four or five cities in June, a committee will visit each. The final decision will be made on Oct. 2, 2009, at an IOC meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"We would love to be able to bring everyone in and show them Chicago's potential," Ryan said. "But obviously we're not permitted to do that."

The plan Ryan and his team have developed not only takes advantage of Chicago's geography, park system and amenities, but also is unusually compact.

"Compact is one thing - it's where it's compact," said Doug Arnot, Chicago 2016's vice president for venues and games operations. "We've taken the very heart of the city and put so much of the Games right there. That is unparalleled."

The $1 billion Olympic Village, where the thousands of athletes would reside, will be built along the downtown lakefront whether or not, according to officials, the city gets the Games. Ninety-one percent of the athletes would be within 15 minutes of the farthest venue. Three of the four venue clusters would be built along Lake Michigan, using Grant, Lincoln and Jackson Parks.

"This setting will be one of the most beautiful the IOC will have ever seen," said Bob Ctvrtlik, the USOC vice president who headed the committee that chose Chicago over 11 other American applicants, including Philadelphia.

Of the 27 athletic venues, 22 either already exist or would be temporary structures. The main Olympic Stadium, which would seat 80,000 and cost an estimated $386 million, would rise in Washington Park, not far from the grave of Olympic legend Jesse Owens.

After the Games, the stadium would be converted into a 5,000-seat arena that organizers hope would serve as a centerpiece for further redevelopment on the blighted South Side.

"Very few cities are better equipped for crowds," Mayor Richard M. Daley said. "Chicago attracted over 44 million visitors in 2006."

Organizers project that the city's Olympic price tag would be at least $5 billion. But, as has happened with recent local projects at O'Hare International Airport and Millennium Park, there are likely to be overruns. The Chicago Tribune reported that costs for the 2012 London Olympics have tripled the original estimates and are now at more than $19 billion.

Chicago 2016 officials said they would spend nearly $50 million on the bid process alone, money it will raise through private sources. Twenty-nine of the world's Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in their city.

So far, unlike New York's failed bid for the 2012 Games, there hasn't been much public opposition to the city's proposal.

The 84 percent supporting the Games was up from 76 percent in a poll the USOC conducted in 2007.

"To have the Olympics in Chicago would be an honor," said Christopher Desmond, 35, a cofounder of a financial-services firm in the city. "I can't think of any other event that brings countries, athletes and fans together."