Today, Yoshiro Mori, the head of Tokyo Olympics has resigned after more than a week of backlash amid his sexist comments over women which he made earlier this month.
Mori quoted “Women talk too much and that meetings with many female board directors would take a lot of time”. The comment made by the head led to protest, later, he apologized for his remarks, but refused to step down. According to the sources more than 500 Olympic volunteers had given a resignation when Mori had refused to quit.
In a meeting of executive board, he stated, “My inappropriate comments have caused chaos, and I would like to apologize to express my deepest apologies to all the members of the council and executive board, as well as the entire community,” and said that as of today ,he will resign from the President’s position.
Mori said at the special committee that, it is important to organize Olympics from July as it was too late amid Covid-19 and he cannot become an obstacle for the same, with less than six months remaining. Mori also defended himself saying that he has supported women throughout his entire career.
There was a huge criticism from people, pundits and politicians which led to an online petition that drew 150,000 signatures. Major sponsors including Toyota which is one of the biggest Olympic backers came forward to criticize Mori,s comments and the president of Toyota said that he was “disappointed”. According to a pole, more than 80% people wanted Olympics to be cancelled or scheduled the next year.
Administrator Saburo Kawabuchi, who is a former football player and former President of Japanese soccer governing body had been first selected by Yoshiro Mori to replace him but this also led to protests. When the questions were asked that why a woman is not been appointed as a Chief , the Japanese media pointed former athletes Mikako Kotani, Naoko Takahashi and Kaori Yamaguchi and due to this issue extensive debate on gender bias was held. For now, it is uncertain about Mori’s replacement.
