TOKYO – The long saga of Yoshiro Mori seems to be nearing the end.
The Japanese news agency Kyodo and others reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources, that Mori will step down as president of the Olympic Organizing Committee in Tokyo on Friday.
The move follows his sexist remarks about women more than a week ago, and a subsequent and rare public debate in Japan on gender equality,
A decision is expected to be announced Friday when the executive committee of the organizing committee meets. The Tokyo 2020 executive council is overwhelming, as is the day-to-day leadership.
At a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee more than a week ago, Mori, 83, essentially said that women ‘talk too much’ and are driven by a ‘strong sense of rivalry’. Mori, a former prime minister, apologized a few days later after his opinions were reported, but declined to resign.
This is more than just another problem for the postponed Olympics, which made the risky choice to try to open on July 23 in the midst of a pandemic involving 11,000 athletes – and later 4,400 Paralympic athletes.
More than 80% of the Japanese public in recent polls said the Olympics should be postponed or canceled.
Mori’s remarks sparked outrage from many quarters, highlighting how far Japan lags behind in advancing women in politics or the council chambers. Japan is 121st out of 153 on the World Economic Forum’s rankings for gender equality.
Although some on the street asked him to resign – a few hundred Olympic volunteers said they were withdrawing – most decision-makers no longer stood by this and simply condemned his remarks.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.