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LONDON (AP) — On a recent morning in London, Lara Thomson practiced spinning on benches, swinging from metal bars and balancing off raised ledges — all elements of a daredevil discipline known as "parkour."

What was unusual about the scene is that Thomson is 79 and all of her classmates are over 60.

They are members of a unique weekly class for seniors in a sport more commonly known for gravity-defying jumps than helping people with arthritis.

Invented in the 1980s in France, parkour is a sport usually favored by extremely nimble people who move freely through any terrain using their own strength and flexibility, often using urban environments such as benches, buildings and walls as a type of obstacle course. It's also known as free running.

The London parkour class of about a dozen students is taught by two instructors who have adapted the sport's main elements to a level that can be handled even by those over 60 who have replacement joints or other medical conditions.

"I wondered whether it was a government plot to get rid of old people when I heard about the class," Thomson joked. She said she has balance problems and that the class helps her feel more confident about getting around. "Being able to get outside and do silly things like hugging trees is great," she said, referring to a stretching exercise.

While most fitness classes aimed at seniors focus on calmer activities such as dance or yoga, experts say parkour is a reasonable, if unorthodox, option.

"When I first heard about this, I had a picture in my mind of elderly people jumping off of walls and I thought there was no way this could be appropriate," said Bruce Paton, a physical therapist who works with the elderly at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health at University College London. He is not connected to the program. "But when you look at the things they're doing, it's actually quite gentle and could increase their strength and flexibility to help them with their daily activities."

Still, Paton said parkour could potentially be dangerous for people with serious heart problems and warned anyone with a joint replacement or muscle weakness should be careful.

The parkour instructors said everyone who takes the class fills out a health form and they are particularly careful to dissuade participants from doing too much; several students have artificial joints, arthritis or a pacemaker.

"Every single technique in parkour can be changed so that anyone can do it," said Jade Shaw, artistic director of Parkour Dance, who teaches the class. The parkour sessions initially began as a pilot project last year and Shaw is hoping to get more funding to expand it further. For now, the classes are free and held at a Tibetan Buddhist center in South London.

"I think it's very beneficial and I'm hoping we'll soon have a lot more older people bouncing around the parks," she said.

David Terrace, a health and fitness expert for the charity Age U.K., said any efforts to get older people more active should be welcomed. He said adaptations have been made to other sports to help the elderly exercise more, such as turning soccer into walking soccer and building customized boats to accommodate wheelchairs for sailing.

"There's no age limit for exercise, it's just about the individual and what they feel comfortable doing," he said.

At 85, George Jackson is the oldest participant in the London parkour class.

"I really enjoy it and wish I could do more," said Jackson, an army veteran and former boxer. "I just sometimes forget how old I am and that I can't do certain things."

He said he struggles with a swollen ankle and knee but that the class has helped. "I was limping around before and now I can walk straight," Jackson said. "But I still don't plan to jump off of anything higher than a bench."

PARIS (AP) — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was in police custody Tuesday, apparently under questioning in an investigation linked to allegations that he took $50 million in illegal campaign funds from Libya's Moammar Gadhafi.

But will the shocking detention and sordid case torpedo Sarkozy's chances at a presidential comeback?

Maybe not.

Sarkozy, a political survivor who's been touring the world with his pop singer wife, is still among the most popular politicians in France despite a pile of investigations that target him.

The 59-year-old hasn't been convicted of anything and remains well-known on the international stage. And he may be his troubled conservative party's best chance to regain the presidency in 2017, after losing it to Socialist Francois Hollande in 2012.

A judicial official said Sarkozy was detained for questioning Tuesday at the headquarters of the judicial police in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. The official, who was not authorized to be publicly named while discussing an ongoing investigation, would not elaborate. French police, prosecutors and other judicial officials would not provide any details.

Sarkozy could be held up to 24 hours, which could be extended for another day. After the questioning, he could be released without charge, named as a witness in the case or handed preliminary charges.

French media reports say Sarkozy is being questioned in an investigation linked to financing for his 2007 presidential campaign, notably allegations that late Libyan leader Gadhafi gave Sarkozy illegal campaign donations.

The French daily Le Monde, which has covered the case closely, says the questioning centers around whether Sarkozy and his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, were kept informed about the investigation by a friendly magistrate, Gilbert Azibert.

Herzog and Azibert were also held for questioning Tuesday.

Sarkozy and Herzog have denied wrongdoing. Azibert's lawyer told reporters he hoped the detention would be over by the evening.

Investigators are basing suspicions at least in part on taped phone conversations between Sarkozy and his lawyer. The taping raised questions about the limits between investigative needs and individual privacy, particularly lawyer-client privilege. Sarkozy has compared the situation to actions by the secret police in the old East Germany.

Allies from Sarkozy's conservative UMP party — which has been in a leadership crisis — jumped to the former president's defense.

"They have never imposed such treatment on a former president, with such a surge of hate," lawmaker Christian Estrosi tweeted.

Former French President Jacques Chirac was convicted in a corruption case in 2011 after he left office, but when he was questioned he was not held in police custody.

The Socialist government tried to stay above the fray.

"Justice officials are investigating, they should carry out the task to the end. Nicolas Sarkozy is a citizen answerable to justice like any other," government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said on i-Tele television.

Political scientist Thomas Guenole said it's too early to draw conclusions about Sarkozy's political future.

"Nicolas Sarkozy has often been pronounced politically dead over the last two years because he was implicated in political-judicial affairs ... And he has always emerged," Guenole said.

He described an "immense love" for Sarkozy amid hard-core members of his party, who view the investigations against Sarkozy as politically driven.

Sarkozy was handed preliminary charges in another investigation into whether he illegally took campaign donations from France's richest woman, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. Those charges were later dropped.

In a separate case, relatives of French victims of a deadly 2002 bombing in Pakistan filed a complaint in Paris last year against Sarkozy and two former advisers for allegedly violating a duty to secrecy in the investigation of the case.

Judges are also investigating funding for his failed 2012 election bid, amid reports that false accounting was used to cover campaign expenses that had surpassed the legal limit. Sarkozy's camp says he was unaware of any wrongdoing.

Despite all this, opinion polls show him in a strong potential position for 2017 election. Hollande won the presidency in 2012 on so far unfulfilled promises to boost jobs and the economy, but his popularity has lagged at record lows for much of his term.

___

Sohrab Monemi and Louise Dewast in Nanterre contributed to this report.

The second season of TV's Drunk History starts this week. In it, people recount genuine historical events while sloshed, and actors dressed up in period clothing re-enact the drunk person's story. Here's a taste: