The increasingly febrile atmosphere surrounding the race to win the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games reached fever pitch on Wednesday with just 48 hours to go before the winner is announced.

Rank outsiders Madrid had their belated first press conference here, where the 100-plus International Olympic Committee (IOC) members will make their decision, ruined as they were forced to apologize over a jibe that senior bid member Jose Maria Odriozola had made at rivals Rio de Janeiro's expense.

The straight-talking Odriozola - the second in command of Spain's Olympic Committee - described the Brazilian city as "the worst of the four candidates", which is in direct contravention of the IOC rules whereby cities cannot criticize any of their rivals.

Rio - who are seen as the greatest danger to odds-on favorites Chicago - lodged a formal complaint to the IOC Ethics Commission but Mercedes Coghen, the Madrid 2016 bid team's chief executive officer, tried to defuse the situation by apologizing.

"We are sorry for that comment," said the glamorous 47-year-old, who in 1992 captained Spain to the women's field hockey gold medal in Barcelona.

"We have tried to have fair play for the past 3 1/2 years of the campaign."

Quite what Odriozola's comments - which also brought up the thorny question of the dreadful crime levels in Rio - does to the entente cordiale between Rio and Madrid is open to question.

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva has said that if one of them were to go out before the other during the vote their votes should be transferred to the other - again not strictly within the rules of the IOC.

In what is turning out to be one of the most fascinating races in Olympic history with Rio bidding to become the first South American city to host the Games, that edition, according to Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, could well be one of the last given the dreadful state of the global environment.

Ishihara, an award winning novelist and brother of one of Japanese cimena's acting icons Yujiro, took the opportunity on his 77th birthday to bang the drum over one of his bugbears which has formed a central part to the Tokyo bid as they try to host the Games for the second time, having had them in 1964.

"I think this (the 2016 Games) could be the last for mankind," he said at a reception for the bid, though, his opinion will come as a shock to his fellow bid members as they have been speaking of leaving a legacy that will last for at least the rest of the century should they host the Games.

"However, more realistically we have to come up with measures without which the Olympics cannot last long. Tokyo is prepared to do everything to create the best conditions for the athletes environmentally speaking. But if things are left unattended the Olympic Games will not continue for long." Ishihara said. "I want people to make choices with consideration for the environment. Global warming is getting worse. Scientists have said that the earth has passed the point of no return."

Chicago by contrast passed a relatively peaceful day after a turbulent Tuesday where Rio had also gone for their jugular over remarks made by city mayor Richard M Daley.

The only blot on their horizon was the intrusion of a group opposed to the Games being hosted in the Windy City: called "No Games" at the official IOC hotel, which was bizarre given they had no official accreditation and no-one normally is allowed access to the hotel without that.

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