Naoko Imoto is an Olympic swimmer and a leading advocate for climate action and sustainability in Japanese sport. She is the Founder and Executive Director of SDGs in SPORTS, where she works with athletes, sports organisations, leagues and businesses to accelerate climate action and gender equality and advance sustainability across the sports sector in Japan.
A former competitive swimmer, Naoko represented Japan at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, finishing fourth in the 4x200m freestyle relay, and won gold medals at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.
Following her sporting career, she spent almost two decades working in international development, specialising in education, peacebuilding and humanitarian response with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Europe. Drawing on her experience across elite sport and international development, she now focuses on mobilising sport as a force for climate action and wider social change.
