I have chosen to dedicate my life to sport, and in particular cross-country skiing, because I feel at ease in the environment in which I move, suffer and live. It was also love of nature, the desire to feel closer to nature through physical hardship, that led me to discover extreme and unique environments.

I was brought up in the mountains, and I continued to live there even when everyone around us seemed to be moving to the big city. Today, I live in the natural park of Stelvio. I have always been aware of how important it is to respect the environment in which we live, and am convinced that we ourselves are the expression of our own environment.

I began skiing when I was four, and have enjoyed a long and fruitful career, participating in five Olympic Games and winning seven Olympic medals, seven world titles and two world cups. For more than six years I chose to wear the uniform of the National Forestry Association to do my bit to help protect the environment.

Finally, on 23 May 2003, I achieved the greatest height of all: the peak of Mount Everest. I was the first Olympic medallist to climb it, and did so with a small Olympic flag bearing the five circles: a tangible sign of the union between nations.

The athlete experiences an intense bond with nature through training and racing. However it is the confrontation between opponents, not that between humans and nature, which comes first: the natural obstacles along the way - which need to be overcome in the quickest time possible - are a means, and not the end, of the competition.

This contrasts completely with conquering a peak considered the roof of the world. Here, nature imposes itself on you; its vastness and strength condition all your movements and choices. The paths on Everest are not marked out by people: we have only those that mother nature provides. We can follow the paths of mountain climbers who have gone before us, amongst whom, let me tell you, there are not many women, but the traces of their passage are continually cancelled by fresh snow, ice, wind… or by the heat of the beautiful sun. Mountaineers can only rely on themselves to find the strength and will to conquer the mountain.

Under these conditions, victory is not so much a dream, as sheer madness! The opponents you must defeat are natural adversaries, which are not so much 'easy' or 'difficult' as 'possible' or 'impossible.' With every step, as you gradually ascend, the basic elements of life become precious: oxygen, water, heat. Even the simplest physical exercises - such as keeping good posture while walking - become strenuous: walking itself becomes a challenge.

You learn to understand that if you succeed in arriving even halfway to your destination, it is because nature was on your side: what you were able to accomplish might not have been possible one minute later.

empics / dpa

Much depends on how well you are able to accommodate mother nature's presence and power, in order to coexist with her, respecting her role. By far the most meaningful victory is not the conquest of the highest peak but that extra step taken towards a greater knowledge of humanity and its relationship to nature.

After this experience I asked myself: what can I do, as Olympic champion and member of the International Olympic Committee, with my skills and professional knowledge, to contribute towards preserving our environment?

The answer was to combine sport and television journalism by initiating a new project: 'The flag of the 5 Olympic Circles'. I will set out to climb a mountain on each continent, with the flag of unity of the International Olympic Committee, thus combining sport, culture, environment and tradition. The project will be broadcast on international television to communicate the value of preserving and conserving our environment.