‘When the door closes on the police cell and you’re in there on your own, you start to think,” Etienne Stott says as the London 2012 Olympic gold medallist reflects on the times his environmental activism has resulted in him being arrested and briefly incarcerated. “Each time, while using my platform to communicate, I’ve sat in the cell and thought: ‘What if everyone hates me and thinks what I’ve done is so disgusting they don’t want to talk to me?’ That’s a horrible thing.
“But then you hold the faith and say: ‘You’re doing the right thing. You’ve got to see it through.’ It’s like Olympic training. You go through tough times and being in that cell, and out in the media, is the other half of my work. Thousands of people undertake non-violent direct action and are arrested. These forms of protest are a desperate form of communication to shine a light on the issues, so explaining what and why we’re doing it is important. But it’s frightening because sometimes you’re dealing with hostile people. I don’t seek out hostility. I find it challenging, as is being in a prison cell.”
