PARIS: Nicolas Sarkozy relishes the hectic life of a wheeler dealer president who has thrown himself into international diplomacy, gone through a divorce, found a new wife and made new political enemies.

He is known as the "hyper-president" and news that the 54-year-old French leader was taken to hospital yesterday only highlights the strain that goes with the job.

Sarkozy collapsed while jogging near his weekend retreat and was rushed to hospital where officials said he was "doing well" but would remain overnight.

The 54-year-old conservative president's wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy raced to his side on the back of a police motorcycle after he took ill while running in the wooded park around Versailles Palace, a witness said.

"The president was taken by helicopter to the Val de Grace military hospital" where tests were conducted, the French presidency said in a statement.

"Clinical and complementary examinations testing neurological functions came back with normal results," including blood tests, an electroencephalogram measuring electrical activity of the brain and an MRI scan, the statement said.

"Cardiological surveillance, which is conducted systematically in such circumstances, will continue until tomorrow morning," it added.

The president's chief of staff, Claude Gueant, said that Sarkozy was "doing well and talking normally to medical staff."

He has also been visited by close advisers to keep abreast of current events, Sarkozy's office said.

A presidential aide said that Sarkozy had a problem related to his vagus nerve - which helps the body regulate its heart rate - but that doctors considered the problem "minor."

A condition known as vasovagal syncope can reduce the heart rate and blood pressure - particularly if the victim is dehydrated.

Patients can faint but normally make a complete recovery, medical experts said.

Sarkozy convincingly won a presidential election in May 2007 on a promise to reform France's hidebound ways and kick-start a sluggish economy.

Voters at first loved his tough-talking style and were enthralled by the ins and outs of his private life, including his 2007 divorce and his 2008 marriage to Carla Bruni.

Many liked the spotlight cast on their country during Sarkozy's efforts to end the Russia-Georgia war and made a six-month barnstorming performance last year when France held the EU presidency.

In recent months his poll ratings have tumbled as the economic crisis takes a toll on French jobs, but Sarkozy has rarely been out of the headlines.

Within six months of his election, Sarkozy was ending his second marriage to Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz which had lasted 11 years.

Within six months he had made heiress, ex-supermodel turned pop singer Bruni wife number three.

Sarkozy has a son, Louis, from his marriage to Cecilia and two sons, Pierre, 23, and Jean, 22, from his first marriage to Marie-Dominique Culioli. Cracks in Sarkozy's relationship with Cecilia started to show when she failed to turn out to vote in the second round while she made no secret of her dislike for the Elysee and its ceremonial trappings. The French public had never seen a president's private life paraded in public like this.