assessment of the Annecy bid from Lindberg. The Swedish IOC member also gave no clue about any concerns that had arisen during the inspection team's four-day stay in the French Alpine town. French President Nicolas Sarkozy also travelled to Annecy to meet with the IOC Evaluation Commission inspecting the city's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. "The government will do everything possible, you can be sure, so that Annecy, applicant for the 2018 Winter Olympics, will be chosen," Sarkozy said. "Annecy's victory will be the victory of the entire nation, standing behind you." While pledging his support for the bid he said "you are trying hard. It's difficult. Your opponents are extremely powerful but I'm with you. If we win the Games it will be fantastic. And if we don't win, all we did will be useful for your cities and your region". The territory that was proposed to host the Games is concentrated in Annecy and Mont Blanc where 65% of the venues were already built and "the world's leading winter sports destination". In a reference to difficult snow conditions at the 2010 Winter Olympics, organizers made a guarantee of snow in Pays de Savoie where the average snowfall in February is 80 cm. Annecy is a smaller city, so the whole department of Haute-Savoie would have been used, including world-famous ski resorts like Chamonix, Megève, La Clusaz, Morzine and Le Grand Bornand. Spread over an area with a 50 km radius, everything is within an hour of Annecy, and two Olympic villages were planned., Of the 13 venues, six venues would have required permanent upgrades, two new venues were already planned to be built, and four other venues would have been built if the Games were hosted in Annecy. Sliding events would have been at La Plagne, the same facilities that were used for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville and which were upgraded in 2008. However, in June 2010, the IOC criticized Annecy's bid stating that the competition venues were excessively dispersed. The IOC report was highly critical over the original venue plan, saying it would "present major operational and financial challenges" that would "affect the Games experience for all client groups, particularly athletes". On October 4, 2010 Annecy's leaders unveiled a new "ultra-compact" venue concept in response to the IOC concerns. Under the reworked venue plans, all ice and snow events would take place within