UPDATE: 6:55 PM, 1/8/15 

DENVER (AP) - The U.S. Olympic Committee chose Boston to bid for the 2024 Games in an attempt to bring the Summer Olympics to America after a 28-year gap.

During a daylong meeting at the Denver airport, USOC board members chose Boston over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, all of which have been lobbying to become the American choice for more than a year.

Boston joins Rome as the only other city that has officially decided to bid. Germany will submit either Hamburg or Berlin, with France and Hungary among those also considering bids. The International Olympic Committee will award the Games in 2017.

America's last two attempts to land the Games resulted in embarrassments - fourth-place finishes for New York (2012) and Chicago (2016).

UPDATE: 6:40 PM, 1/8/15: Boston Mayor Marty Walsh issued the following statement: "It is an exceptional honor for Boston to be chosen as the U.S.representative in the running for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This selection is in recognition of our city's talent, diversity and global leadership. Our goal is to host an Olympic and Paralympic Games that are innovative, walkable and hospitable to all. Boston hopes to welcome the world's greatest athletes to one of the world's great cities."

UPDATE: 4 PM, 1/8/15: Right now, the eyes of Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC are on… the Denver Airport. That's where the US Olympic Committee is meeting to choose a city to represent the US in the bid to host the 2024 Summer Games. The 15-member committee has given itself 5 hours to make the decision, so it should be done by 8PM Eastern Time. Then they'll board a plane to the chosen city and hold a press conference in the morning. We'll keep you posted with any news today. There's been no shortage of controversy over whether Boston should host the Olympics.

The United States Olympic Committee will decide which city it will nominate to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games today. Boston is in the running, and the committee will soon hold a mysterious, private meeting in Denver to decide.

It’s an intriguing story. The 15 board members of the U.S. Olympic Committee will meet at the Denver airport at 1pm. That’s 3 p.m. Eastern Time. They’ll make a decision about which city — Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Washington — will represent the country in a bid to host the 2024 Olympics. They’ve given themselves five hours to make the decision, and then they and their staff will board an airplane for the chosen city. On Friday they’ll host a news conference. All four cities have been told to be on “standby.”

“It is very representative of the entire process to date," said Christopher Dempsey, spokesman for the group No Boston Olympics. "It occurs behind closed doors. There’s no public involvement."

Dempsey says there isn’t enough transparency or public involvement in Olympic decision making.

"We think Boston is a world-class city," Dempsey said. "We don’t need the USOC or the IOC to bless us with that designation. But when you look at the history of the Olympics it doesn’t have good outcomes for cities, and so let’s think about better public policy and better ways to invest public dollars.”

The group Boston 2024, which pitched the bid along with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, is quiet this week. But for the past year it’s been touting Boston’s place in the international spotlight, and the infrastructure improvements the Olympics could bring. In any case, whichever city is chosen will enter an intense international battle to host. For example, Italy has already nominated Rome and Germany is deciding between Berlin and Hamburg.