Sarkozy campaigned for health and then himself felt faint while jogging

PARIS — PARIS (AP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy “felt faint” while jogging Sunday at a presidential residence outside the capital and was undergoing medical tests, the Elysee Palace announced and his chief of staff was quoted at saying. France’s main cable television channels flashed text reports of the president’s health across the bottom of their screens but live programming of the final leg of the Tour de France on the main TV channel was not interrupted.

The Parisien newspaper on its Web site quoted Claude Gueant, the secretary-general of the Elysee Palace, as saying Sarkozy’s malaise was over quickly.

“The president is completely conscious. His malaise did not last a long time,” Gueant said in an interview with the Le Parisien that the newspaper posted on its Web site late Sunday afternoon. However, Gueant, who was not with the French leader at the time, indicated that Sarkozy had been inanimate for an unspecified amount of time but that he “had regained consciousness. ”

Gueant said that Sarkozy had been jogging on the grounds of the Lanterne pavilion, a hunting lodge at Versailles palace that is used by French presidents.

Earlier, the Elysee Palace had issued a statement saying that Sarkozy “felt faint” Sunday while exercising and his personal doctor immediately took charge and ordered medical tests, the two-paragraph statement said.

Elysee officials would not comment on the telephone. France 2 television, however, said Sarkozy was hospitalized.

Further details will be made available later, the Elysee statement said.

Sarkozy, 54, was elected in 2007. He is regularly seen running and is a cycling enthusiast. He last underwent a medical examination July 3, when his cardiovascular and blood tests were normal, the medical service of the Elysee said.

His first medical bulletin issued shortly after his 2007 election said Sarkozy’s health was “good” and compatible with his presidential duties.

During his presidential campaign, Sarkozy campaigned for greater transparency on presidential health bulletins. Several previous French presidents regularly concealed health problems from the public. President Francois Mitterrand kept his cancer secret and had ordered his doctor to falsify his health bulletins for years.

However, Sarkozy’s short hospital stay for a throat problem in the fall of 2007 was revealed only three months later.

[Pic source: IndianExpress]