Sarkozy - showing signs of the strain?

The aura of youth and indestructible energy cultivated by President Nicolas Sarkozy was dealt a severe blow last night when he collapsed while jogging at Versailles.

One of the first people to rush to his aid was his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkzoy. She was seen by an eyewitness arriving on a motorbike from the presidential retreat nearby.

Although President Sarkozy, 54, was flown by helicopter to a military hospital in Paris, the Elysee Palace said that he had been the victim of a relatively banal fainting fit - or "vasovagal episode". Such fits, rarely serious, can be brought on by, amongst other things, stress or too much physical exercise.

"He was immediately seen by his doctor." The Elysee Palace said in its first statement. "Additional examinations are in progress. Other information will be released later."

Claude GuEant, the president's secretary general, or chief of staff, added last night that M. Sarkozy was "well" and was "chatting normally to the medical staff." A spokesperson later denied that the president had fainted.

M. Sarkozy was being kept in the Val-de-Grce military hospital in the fifth arrondissement of Paris overnight for precautionary checks, according to Elysee sources. He was expected to make a full and rapid recovery. The political impact of his fainting fit could, however, be more difficult to gauge.

M. Sarkozy, nicknamed the "hyper-president", has sold himself to the French public, and the wider world, as the tireless, can-do successor to 26 years of elderly and immobile French leadership.

One of the most startling images of his first days in office in May 2007 was footage of the President of the Republic jogging in the Bois de Boulogne in a sweat-shirt marked NYPD (New York Police department).

He has since set a punishing pace in both his political and private lives: divorcing; marrying a pop star after a whirlwind romance; and taking hold of most of the levers of French government, including those usually held by the Prime Minister.

He runs for an hour in the grounds of the Elysee Palace several times a week but brings his mobile phone with him. On one occasion a senior Elysee official was briefing journalists when he received a call from the president running in the grounds.

The president collapsed while running in the park of the palace of Versailles, close to La Lanterne, a retreat officially available to French prime ministers but commandeered by M. Sarkozy early in his presidency. An eyewitness who was walking in the palace grounds soon after 1pm told the French news agency, AFP, that she had seen an exhausted-looking man running along between his security guards.

He collapsed and was surrounded by his companions. Within minutes, she said, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy arrived riding a motorcycle. A helicopter landed nearby and took off again.

The Elysee Palace last published the results of the president's routine health checks three weeks ago. His heart and blood pressure were said to be normal. M. Sarkozy has a brief hospital stay in October 2007 for a throat complaint. This visit was not revealed until three months later.

Secrecy has often surrounded the health of previous French presidents. Georges Pompidou died suddenly in office in April 1974 from a rare form of blood cancer. The cause of his death was not fully revealed until 1982.

President Francois Mitterrand suffered from liver cancer throughout his two seven year terms (1981-95), but this was not revealed until nine days after his death in 1996.

President Jacques Chirac, who left office after twelve years in 2007, was reported to have visited Canada for surgery in 2003 but this was never confirmed. In 2005, he spent a week in the Val-de-Grace hospital after what was described as a "little vascular accident".

The first French politician to react to M. Sarkozy's illness was his socialist political opponent, Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor of Paris. He wished the president a "prompt recovery".

- INDEPENDENT