COPENHAGEN - Michelle Obama's welcoming party was more like a stopover. She chatted with the ambassador, kissed Chicago Mayor Richard Daley on the cheek and gave her old friends quick hugs hello before climbing into the waiting SUV.

With only two days until the 2016 Games are awarded, there's no time to waste.

Mrs. Obama arrived Wednesday morning to lend her support to Chicago's efforts to win the 2016 Summer Olympics. As head of Chicago's delegation - and her husband's representative until he arrives Friday - she plans to meet with as many IOC members as possible to try to persuade them to pick her hometown over Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo.

"That's the perspective I bring,'' Mrs. Obama said earlier this week, referring to her Chicago roots. "That's the voice that I'm most comfortable using. But in this case, it's probably helpful, particularly given the fact that so much of where the games are going to be held are sort of right in my backyard.''

President Barack Obama has been an ardent supporter of the bid since he was a U.S. Senator, and he's been working the phones in recent weeks. But when it looked as if the health care debate might keep him in Washington, he asked his wife to come to Copenhagen to meet with IOC members.

Although IOC president Jacques Rogge has taken great pains to say heads of state aren't expected to attend, their presence has been instrumental in recent votes. Tony Blair is widely credited for tipping the 2012 vote in London's favour, spending two days doing one-on-one meetings with IOC members in his hotel suite.

Vladimir Putin did much the same thing two years later, when Sochi won the 2014 Olympics.

And there are few people better to sell Chicago's bid than Michelle Obama.

Funny, gracious and incredibly accomplished, she's one of the few people who can rival her husband's popularity. She also knows the neighbourhoods where the Games would be, having grown up on the South Side of Chicago. The Obamas' Chicago home is a short walk from the planned Olympic stadium.

"These are my neighbourhoods,'' Mrs. Obama said.

Valerie Jarrett, Obama's senior adviser and former vice-chair of Chicago 2016, met with Blair last week to get advice on making the best use of these last few days. Because most IOC members are just beginning to arrive, Mrs. Obama flew in Wednesday morning - on a plane with a big U.S. flag on the tail and ``United States of America'' on its side.

The U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Laurie S. Fulton, was there to greet her, as were Daley and his wife, Maggie, Olympic gold medallist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Chicago 2016 president Lori Healey and Marty Nesbitt, one of the president's good friends. Kai Holm, president of the Danish Olympic Committee, also was there.

Mrs. Obama planned to meet with IOC members later Wednesday and Thursday, and also has a meeting scheduled with Rogge. She'll attend Chicago's welcome bash - along with Oprah Winfrey - and has lunch plans Thursday with the Danish queen.

On Friday, she and her husband will both be part of Chicago's final presentation to IOC members.

"We're not going to sing together or anything,'' Mrs. Obama said recently, drawing laughs. "I don't know if I can elaborate any more without giving away too much of it. . . . All I have are my stories, my experiences as a Chicagoan, as an American, as someone who believes deeply that health and fitness have got to play a greater role in the lives of our kids and our communities, and as someone who believes that the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the best way to bring that message home.''