Yoshiro Mori, the chairman of the Tokyo Olympics committee, resigns for his sexist comments

Less than six months before the Tokyo Olympics, the president of its organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, announced his resignation this Friday after the controversy arose inside and outside the country after making comments considered sexist.

Although he initially said he would not resign, mounting pressure from multiple fronts has ultimately forced him to do so.

Without a named successor yet, his departure occurs when the celebration of the Games, postponed since last year and expected to begin in July (from July 23 to August 8), faces the risk that the third wave of coronavirus in Japan it is not controlled by then.

The fall from grace of the 83-year-old Mori, who was Japan's prime minister between 2000 and 2001, has happened in nine days.

On February 3, she criticized that executive meetings with many women take too long.

“When you increase the number of women, if their speaking time is not limited, they have a hard time finishing, which is very annoying.

The joints will be very long.

They love to compete against one another ”, she declared in a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee in which it was precisely debated to increase the female quota - there are only five women among its 24 members;

and in the directive of the organizing committee chaired by Mori, only seven out of 36-, which provoked a torrent of criticism.

Although he later retracted his comments and apologized ("I am deeply sorry," he said), he initially refused to resign, later increasing the controversy by claiming that he himself does not speak much to women.

"Lately I don't listen to them much ...", he said.

• IOC condemns sexist remarks by Tokyo 2020 organizer

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the next day that such comments "should not have been made."

And on February 5, during a parliamentary session, he emphasized that what Mori said "completely collides with gender equality, a fundamental principle of the Olympics."

At the Tokyo event, in addition, a percentage of 48.6% of women is expected with respect to the total of participating athletes, and the International Olympic Committee estimates that total parity will be reached at the Paris 2024 Games.

Suga raised the tone of his answer as the days passed, although he avoided answering whether Mori should stay or leave as head of the Olympics, something that, he said, was not in his power to decide.

Other senior officials in the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, to which Mori also belongs, were in favor of him staying, claiming that it would be "difficult to replace him," says the Japanese media

Nikkei

.

However, a source close to the prime minister had warned that it would not be easy for Mori to overcome the criticisms, adding that they also came from outside the country.

Although initially the International Olympic Committee had closed the matter after Mori's apology, as the controversy worsened, it described the comments as "completely inappropriate."

Last Wednesday, the governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, announced that she would not attend a meeting scheduled for February 17 with the aim of discussing the preparations for the Games, and that she would be attended by Mori and the head of the IOC, Thomas Bach , because at this moment the discussions "could not lead to anything positive."

An

online

campaign

calling for action against Mori has garnered more than 146,000 signatures, with Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka calling the former prime minister's comments "ignorant."

Since it took place, some 400 volunteers from the Games have resigned, according to the Tokyo Organizing Committee.

In total, there are more than 80,000 volunteers signed, from Japan and abroad.

Criticisms have also come from the business community;

Japanese automaker Toyota, sponsor of the Games, released a statement on Wednesday stating that "the comments of the organizing committee leader differ from the values ​​supported by Toyota."

Mori's resignation comes at a delicate moment, when the intention to hold the Games this July faces high levels of unpopularity in Japan.

According to a survey by the Kyodo agency, 47.1% of those interviewed believe that they should be postponed again due to the pandemic.

32.5% believe that they should be canceled entirely and only 14.5% believe that they should be held on the scheduled date.

The figure of Mori has been surrounded by controversy for his politically incorrect comments.

When he was prime minister, he described Japan as a "divine nation" centered on the figure of the emperor, a vision contrary to the postwar spirit.

He retired from politics in 2012, after four decades as a member of parliament, and in January 2014 he served as head of the Organizing Committee for the Tokyo Games.

That same year, he was again in the eye of the hurricane after criticizing that the Japanese figure skater Mao Asada "always falls at the most critical moment", for her performance at the Sochi Games.

A recognized figure in the field of promoting sporting events, Mori was also responsible for the Rugby World Cup being held in his country in 2019, the first time it had happened in Asia. He served as president of the Japan Rugby Union for ten years. Although 84-year-old former head of the Japan Football Association Saburo Kawabuchi sounded like a possible replacement for Mori, the former footballer has declined to hold the position, according to

Nikkei

.