Trail champion Andy Symonds has decided not to take part in the World Championships in Thailand, in order to avoid increasing his carbon footprint. Based in Provence, the sportsman has decided to give priority in future to the races closest to his home, to which he can travel by train.
Actor Vincent Lindon deplored on France Inter the ecological nonsense of organizing the soccer World Cup in Qatar this winter, and declared that he would not support it. A media outlet on Reunion Island announced that it would do the same, and that it would not be covering the sporting event because of “the intolerable attacks on dignity, human freedoms, minorities and the planet”. However, it will also cover social and environmental aspects. Other sports players such as Philipp Lahm and Eric Cantona have also taken up positions.
On the NGO side, Amnesty International launched a petition signed by over 48,000 people: “Qatar 2022, human rights must not be offside! In May, it published a report on the human rights violations suffered by several hundred thousand workers on World Cup construction sites.
To further fuel the debate, Le Parisien reports that the organizers held a test match which turned out to be a complete fiasco.
