THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: French President Nicholas Sarkozy has been warned by friends to give up rigorous exercise and a "severe" new diet after his collapse while jogging raised questions about his wife's influence.
Mr Sarkozy, 54, left the Val-de-Grace military hospital in Paris on Monday after being kept in overnight under cardiological observation, a day after he suffered a dizzy spell and fell to the ground while running at his weekend retreat in Versailles.
He emerged smiling and holding hands with his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who has supposedly orchestrated her husband's health makeover in recent months.
While heat and overwork were blamed for the incident on Sunday, questions remained over his condition. The Elysee Palace said he would take a few days of "relative" rest and denied that his faintness was in any way linked to heart problems.
He had suffered a "vasovagal episode" - a drop in heart rate and blood pressure - following "sustained effort during hot weather, without loss of consciousness, in the context of fatigue linked to a heavy workload", aides said.
However, Frederic Lefebvre, the spokesman for Mr Sarkozy's UMP party, cast doubt on that explanation by saying that the President had suffered a "cardiac incident".
Friends blamed a draconian diet that involved eating only small amounts and ruled out chocolate, cheese and puddings, supposedly undertaken by Mr Sarkozy in an attempt to become as svelte and fit as his model-turned-singer wife, who is 13 years his junior.
Patrick Balkany, an MP and close friend, said: "He's on a diet because he's always a little bit too heavy ... let's say he doesn't want to be overweight."
Mr Balkany added: "Recently the President has looked very honed. He looks more like a Tour de France rider than a president."
The first lady, whom he married last year, is credited with overseeing a "metamorphosis" of her husband as part of his bid to run for a second term in 2012. >>> | Wednesday, July 29, 2009
