Tokyo Olympics President Calls It Quits

Yoshiro Mori resigns over sexist comments
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 12, 2021 12:36 AM CST
Tokyo Olympics President Calls It Quits
Yoshiro Mori, the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, closes his eyes during a news conference in Tokyo Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021.   (Kim Kyung-hoon/Pool Photo via AP)

As expected, the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee is stepping down. Yoshiro Mori officially announced his resignation Friday, the AP reports. The 83-year-old former Japanese prime minister had come under fire for sexist comments he made on Feb. 3, after which he initially refused to step down. Responding to a remark about the Japanese Olympic Committee's board having just five female members out of 24, he said that meetings with more women would "drag on."

"If we increase the number of female board members, we have to make sure their speaking time is restricted somewhat," he said. "They have difficulty finishing, which is annoying." The former head of the Japan Football Association, Saburo Kawabuchi, was widely seen as the likely replacement for Mori, but the Mainichi and Nikkei Asia reported Friday the 84-year-old declined the position after the "closed-door politics" of Mori's successor choice came under fire. (More on the Mori scandal here.)

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