Sarkozy waxes philosophical about possible defeat

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the underdog in a presidential election to be decided on May 6, waxed philosophical on Friday about the possibility of losing, telling a sports newspaper that defeat was part of life in sport and politics.

"I think records are made to be beaten. So you can't be sad if someone else takes your place because, after all, that's the rule," Sarkozy told sports daily L'Equipe, one of his favourite reads, in an interview.

"It's the rule in sports and it's the rule in politics: at a certain point everyone should realise they've been lucky to do what they have done," the conservative president said.

Sarkozy, a sports enthusiast and avid cyclist, was commenting on a copy of the paper's front page from the 1968 Mexico City Olympics showing American athlete Bob Beamon's historic 8.90-metre long jump, a record that held for 23 years.

"You've got to win. Beamon won. Beamon was replaced. I think he accepted that," he said.

Opinion polls put Sarkozy, the most unpopular French leader to run for re-election, 6-14 points behind Socialist challenger Francois Hollande for the May 6 runoff.

The 57-year-old said in March that if he lost, he would leave politics for good.

In January, sounding unusually downbeat, Sarkozy told aides and reporters in French Guyana that he realised that he may not win his battle for a second term.

"In any case, I am at the end," Sarkozy said in off-record comments leaked in French media. "For the first time in my life I am facing the end of my career."