Olympian to champion environment issues at Games

Etienne Stott said sport could be key to finding solutions to the challenges the environment is facing

A former Olympian is to run a series of workshops at the Paris Games to champion environmental issues.

Etienne Stott, from Bedford, who won gold at the 2012 London Games, said he believed in the "power of sport" to do good.

The canoeist was found guilty of a public order offence in 2019 after taking part in Extinction Rebellion protests on Waterloo Bridge in London.

"Sport has got this huge power to reach, connect and inspire people at a time when the planet is facing grave crisis," he said.

Etienne Stott partnered Tim Baillie to win an historic first GB canoe slalom gold at London 2012

Stott said the Met office announcement that climate change was dramatically increasing the frequency of higher temperatures in the UK meant "we need to talk about how sport contributes to that".

"In the end athletes do not want to be training and competing in polluted air and polluted waters - none of us do," he said.

He said bigger conversations needed to take place about all green issues, such as the use of electric cars, which are not "made of unicorn dust" and used "precious minerals" in production.

"We need to think about the future of transport," he added.

He said he would be running environmental sports workshops in Paris during the Olympic Games and speaking to athletes and sports administrators.

"I believe in the power of sport, sport can do so much more and sport really needs to," he added.

"Sport depends on a planet where ecosystems are working properly.

"Paris has made genuine and earnest efforts to reduce its environmental impact and I think it's great.

"It's beautiful, the Olympics are amazing."

Etienne Stott retired from competitive canoeing in 2016

Organisers say they want to halve carbon footprints compared with previous Games.

To achieve this, action would be taken "to reduce its impact across all aspects of the event’s organisation and supporting projects to capture or avoid carbon emissions in France and around the world", they said.