The head of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic organising committee has resigned, a week after his derogatory comments about women triggered an international backlash. “My inappropriate remarks have caused chaos, and I would like to apologise to express my deepest apologies to the members of the council and executive board, as well as the entire community,” Mori, a former Japanese prime minister, told a meeting of the Tokyo 2020 executive board on Friday..
Feb 12, 2021
OSAKA – The domestic and international furor surrounding Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Organising Committee, whose sexist comments resulted in his resignation Friday, puts an end to the latest chapter in the career of one of Japan’s most influential, but controversial, public figures.
Despite broad domestic and international criticism that the 83-year old Mori was out of touch and a relic of a bygone era, many within the Japanese Olympic movement and the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga initially either urged Mori to stay or were reluctant to call for his resignation.
In the end, even the International Olympic Committee which had earlier said that with Mori’s apology the problem was over condemned his comments as inappropriate and contradictory to its Olympic goals.
The president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organising committee, Yoshiro Mori, is expected to resign after derogatory comments he made about women caused an international uproar less than six months before the Games are due to open. Mori, who has led the organising committee since 2014, will step down after insisting for days that he would not resign, the Fuji News Network reported on Thursday. He is expected to announce his resignation on Friday.
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Yoshiro Mori, the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, listens to a question from a journalist during a news conference in Tokyo last Thursday.
With this summer s Tokyo Olympics already hanging in the balance due to the coronavirus pandemic, public outrage over sexist remarks by the Games organizing chief has thrown the event into a deeper crisis.
Despite the efforts of Japanese and Olympic officials to quash the debate, pressure on 83-year-old Yoshiro Mori is mounting over his comments last week saying that women talk too much in board meetings.
Japan s public broadcaster NHK reports that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Organizing Committee will convene a special board meeting as soon as Friday to discuss the crisis. Japan s Olympic Minister says the meeting will discuss whether or not Mori should resign.