Nicolas Sarkozy leaves French hospital

A smiling French President Nicolas Sarkozy left a Paris military hospital on Monday after overnight tests gave him a clean bill of health despite his collapse while jogging the day before.

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Mr Sarkozy left the Val de Grace hospital hand in hand with his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, then shook the hands of medical staff and waved to journalists before getting into his official car and being driven off.

Separately, his office issued a statement confirming that doctors had found no sign of heart or neurological trouble and had diagnosed him as having suffered a minor fainting episode caused by fatigue.

“The diagnosis is thus one of a near-syncope caused by sustained effort during hot weather, without loss of consciousness, in the context of fatigue linked to a heavy workload,” the Elysee Palace said.

Doctors have recommended that the 54-year-old leader rest, so he has postponed a planned visit on Tuesday to the Mont Saint Michel abbey in Normandy but will chair Wednesday’s cabinet meeting as planned, the statement added.

Mr Sarkozy collapsed on Sunday while jogging in the wooded parkland around the Palace of Versailles just outside Paris and was immediately taken by helicopter to Val de Grace, which traditionally treats French presidents.

Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy raced to the scene of the incident on a police motorbike, a witness told AFP, and she was at the president’s hospital bedside.

Officials in his office insisted the president was “doing well” and played down the incident, which supporters blamed on his notoriously hyperactive schedule

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