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Posts Tagged ‘French Intellectuals’

In France, Jogging Is a Running Joke
President’s Exercise Regime Has Critics in a Lather

By Joel Garreau
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 7, 2007; Page C01

The sight of the new French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, jogging — often wearing his favorite NYPD T-shirt — has fired up a tempest in a Reebok in France and Britain this summer. Sarkozy’s running is an un-French, right-wing conspiracy, suggests Paris’ left-wing newspaper Libération. In response, British commentators gleefully conclude: The French have lost their minds, again.

This is simply insane in my book. What do you think?

Here’s the article from Fox:

Intolerable Habit

And intellectuals and media elites in France are ripping newly-elected president Nicolas Sarkozy for a practice they find unacceptable — jogging.

The Australian newspaper reports critics see Sarkozy’s passion for running as un-French, right-wing and even a ploy to brainwash his citizens.

One celebrated philosopher begged Sarkozy to take up walking and abandon what he called his “undignified” pursuit.

A sports sociologist notes that French intellectuals have always held jogging in contempt and associated it with totalitarian regimes that emphasize physical fitness.