Tokyo
The Tokyo 2020 organising committee will ask Japan’s Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto – a woman who competed in seven Games as a skater and a cyclist – to be its new president following the resignation of the former head over sexist comments, public broadcaster NHK said on Wednesday.Yoshiro Mori quit as committee president last week after saying that women talk too much, dealing another blow to an Olympic Games already marred by a year-long delay and strong public opposition due to the coronavirus pandemic. The panel will ask Hashimoto if she wants to take the position, NHK said.
“The selection panel is moving towards asking her,” it said. Kyodo news agency said the Tokyo 2020 organising committee would meet on Thursday to select a new president. Hashimoto declined to comment on the report. “The selection committee has been set up and procedures are underway.
I have nothing to say beyond that,” she told reporters. Born days before Japan hosted the 1964 summer Games, Hashimoto is named after the Olympic flame. She took part in four Winter Olympics as a speed skater and three Summer Olympics as a cyclist. A 56-year-old lawmaker in Japan’s ruling party, she has served as the Olympics minister, doubling as minister for women’s empowerment, since 2019. The Asahi Shimbun said that if she took the post she would have to quit as Olympics minister.—Reuters
