On Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee will whittle the list of seven applicant cities down to an unspecified number of finalists that can continue their efforts to win the games.

Organizers in Chicago are confident the IOC will determine they can clear that hurdle, which boils down to whether the city has the technical ability to host an Olympic Games.

After that comes the hard work: convincing IOC members that Chicago is the best site for the games.

"We all become much more focused," said Doug Arnot, the operations chief for the city's 2016 bid. "The analogy we've drawn is we've been playing in the regular season and now we're going into the playoffs."

It would be a stunning development if...