Olympic bid process might be on thin ice - Austrian chancellor calls today's vote for the 2014 Winter Games a fight for the future.

"This is a good symbol of how our friends in Russia understand environment -- putting a skating facility in a country with a temperature of almost 30 degrees [86 Fahrenheit]," Gusenbauer told The Times as he walked through Guatemala City on Tuesday afternoon.

"This already indicates how they will handle the environment in Sochi."

Rarely are such strong sentiments uttered openly in the bid process, where jibes generally are made off the record or through sub rosa distribution of materials critical of a rival bid.

Chancellor Gusenbauer apparently has decided his country's underdog bidder, Salzburg, no longer has anything to gain by being politic in a competition he feels is far too political. He portrays today's vote for the 2014 host in almost apocalyptic terms.

"It's a fight for the future of the Olympic movement," he said.

That idea could resonate with those International Olympic Committee members who find the campaign styles of the other two finalists, Sochi and Pyeongchang, South Korea, to be over the top.

The IOC calls environmental sensitivity one of the "guiding principles" of the Olympic movement. Gusenbauer thinks other Olympic principles also have been violated in the 2014 contest.

"Many IOC members are very much concerned about how this campaign is going on," said Gusenbauer, who has spoken with four dozen of the 111 members since arriving Saturday. "Some have the impression this is an auction.

"Many dislike this economic and political power play. This could be in favor of a Salzburg that simply does not participate in this type of auction."

Salzburg bid officials say they have spent $13 million on the campaign, compared with an announced $30 million by Sochi and $32.5 million by Pyeongchang. Informed estimates have the Koreans and Russians spending more than $40 million.

IOC marketing director Gerhard Heiberg of Norway, who told the Associated Press on Monday he thought too much money was being spent to win the Winter Olympics, said Tuesday, "I want to discuss it after this [vote] is over. We have to go over the rules for this." Asked if a lot of money was being wasted, Heiberg replied, "I wouldn't say wasted."