TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto plans to take over as Tokyo 2020 leader, the organizing committee for the games in Japan, Kyodo news agency reported Thursday, replacing Yoshiro Mori, who resigned after making sexual comments.
Mori resigned as president of the committee last week after claiming that women talk too much, a new blow to the Olympics, which has already been marred by undue delay. model of a year due to coronavirus pandemic, and strong public challenge.
An selection committee began meeting Tuesday to select a Mori representative, with criteria that included a deep understanding of gender equality and diversity, and the ability to achieve those values at the Games, the organizers said.
Born days before Japan hosted the 1964 summer Games, Hashimoto participated in four Winter Olympics as a distance astronaut and three Summer Olympics as a cyclist.
A lawyer in Japan’s ruling party, Hashimoto, 56, has been the Olympic minister, doubling as a minister to empower women, since 2019.
Hashimoto told reporters late Wednesday that she had nothing to say.
Tamayo Marukawa, 50, a television nominee who was elected to the upper house of parliament as a member of the ruling party in 2007 and a former Olympic minister for about a year, the Mainichi said daily as the minister of the Olympics. .
Mori, 83 and a former prime minister, resigned last Friday after causing controversy by saying at an Olympic committee meeting that women talk too much. At first he refused calls to stop them.
The International Olympic Committee at the time said it was as committed as ever to hosting the Games and would work hand in hand with the Mori delegate.
The Games are set to begin on July 23 despite repeated polls showing that most citizens are opposed to holding them this year because of the pandemic.
Reciting with Makiko Yamazaki and Elaine Lies; Edited by Christian Schmollinger and Lincoln Feast.