Chicago’s waiting to hear final word about its plan to host the 2016 Olympic Games. In the meantime, it’s happy to host Olympic athlete’s media-warm up.

Chicago’s Palmer House is practically an Olympic Village right now. U.S. swimmers, archers, and other athletes are meeting with reporters in the palatial conference rooms. It’s their last media hoorah before they head to Beijing this summer.

The entourage includes soccer forward Heather O’Reilly. She took a question about China’s human rights record.

O’REILLY: I’m only 23, so I haven’t been around that many Olympics, but looking back at the history books, there has been a lot of conflicts surrounding Olympic Games, so there’s always gonna be issues that people try to bring up around this time, because, of course, everybody’s watching.

Chicago’s role is no accident. The city’s pitching to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Organizers figure having athletes a fine downtown hotel might help their cause.