Not really - you get a visa (which is a relatively plainless process), and when you actually land there is almost no paperwork. And you can bet that for all ath

Not really - you get a visa (which is a relatively plainless process), and when you actually land there is almost no paperwork. And you can bet that for all athletes and associated media/staff, the Chinese would either waive the visa requirement or make it ridiculously easy (you can change things on-the-fly like that when you're in a one-party state). The US, on the other hand, is remarkably difficult to get permission to enter if you're not American. Getting appropriate visas takes some time and a lot of paperwork/documentation, and when you physically land at the airport you're photographed, fingerprinted, and questioned. While I bet the organizers would have found some way to simplify the process a bit, you can bet that they wouldn't have the ability to do a wholesale re-write of immigration laws like the Chinese did (or like the Russians do whenever they host major international events). As for the IOC members not seeing it, don't forget that many of them come from smaller foreign countries that US immigration is traditionally very skeptical of. They may have had their visa applications completed and expedited by the Chicago organizers, but they still would have been in the same lines as everyone else upon landing, and would have read the same instructions that talk about the various forms you need.