Philadelphia welcomed representatives of the United States Olympic Committee with great fanfare Tuesday.
The committee is visiting five U.S. cities which have shown interest in hosting the 2016 Olympic Games. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston join Philadelphia as potential hosts.
Former Olympians, child athletes, businessmen and community members gathered in Love Park across from City Hall to show their support for the Olympic effort.
Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth told the crowd that he was impressed with the city.
"This is a city that is on the move in the right direction," Ueberroth said. "You have a lot to be proud of."
However, he added that the committee is a long way from choosing a bid city if it even decides to make a bid for the games. New York, the U.S. committee's choice to host the 2012 Games, was snubbed by the international Olympic organization.
"This is not bidding against four other cities," Ueberroth said, indicating that simply being the most impressive of the five might not be enough. "We might not bid at all."
Ueberroth added that any bid would have to be privately financed and that taxpayer money couldn't be used in the attempt.
Mayor John Street, meanwhile, said he was doing his best to make a positive impression.
"It's always about selling the city," Street said. "We are always selling it. That's our job."
Joe Torsella, chairman of the Philadelphia 2016 Working Group -- the organization which has been spearheading a possible bid attempt -- said that the city had proved its ability to host major events through its experience with the Live 8 concert last summer and the Republican National Convention in 2000. He added that Philadelphia benefits from already having many of the necessary facilities and infrastructural requirements in place.
"We have a collection of existing venues, something we didn't have 10 years ago," Torsella said.
Some of those venues could include sites at Penn, according to Philadelphia Visitors and Convention Bureau spokeswoman Danielle Cohn.
Penn "has been discussed as a venue," Cohn said. "It is a completely regional effort, and of course that would include the universities."
University President Amy Gutmann is a member of the working group and was present at the event to show her support.
"I'm part of the core group," Gutmann said. "We'll be a partner in this whole Philadelphia effort."
And the whole city stands to benefit if the Olympics happen here, Penn fencing coach and three-time Olympian David Micahnik said.
"It changes the city," Micahnik said. "You become an Olympic city."
Ueberroth said that the U.S. committee would decide whether to make a bid by the end of the year.
As far as the city's chances of successfully landing the games go, Justice Smith, who won an Olympic gold medal in the 1948 eight-oar rowing event, said Philadelphia's bid feels special.
"To me, this city feels right," Smith said. "I know from the people I've met that the city would support it 100 percent."
