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And… he’s out.
A week after he said he wouldn’t resign, multiple sources are reporting that Yoshiro Mori, the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, has indeed decided to resign after a growing chorus of voices were demanding he step down following comments he made that were offensive to, oh, only about half of the human population not to mention thousands of female athletes who would actually be participating in the event he was overseeing.
The Olympics, about five months away, are already in danger of being postponed again because of the ongoing COVID pandemic; that would be a major blow to softball as the sport has already been ruled out of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Having a leadership change so close to the scheduled Games only makes the picture more murky.
Here is the Associated Press report which updates the original story, published below…
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
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Reports: Mori to resign Tokyo Olympics over sexist remarks
TOKYO (AP) — The long saga of Yoshiro Mori appears to be near the end.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency and others reported on Thursday — citing unnamed sources “familiar with the matter” — that Yoshiro Mori will step down on Friday as the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee.
The move follows his sexist comments about women more than a week ago, and an ensuing and rare public debate in Japan about gender equality. They also come just over five months before the Olympics are to open.
A decision is expected to be announced on Friday when the organizing committee’s executive board meets. The executive board is overwhelming male, as is the day-to-day leadership.
The 83-year-old Mori, in a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee more than a week ago, essentially said women “talk too much” and are driven by a “strong sense of rivalry.” Mori, a former prime minister, gave a grudging apology a few days after his opinions were reported but declined to resign.
This is more than just another problem for the postponed Olympics, which have made the risky choice of trying to open on July 23 in the middle of a pandemic with 11,000 athletes — and later, 4,400 Paralympic athletes.
More than 80% of the Japanese public in recent polls say the Olympics should be postponed or canceled.
Mori’s remarks have drawn outrage from many quarters and have put the spotlight on how far Japan lags behind other prosperous countries in advancing women in politics or the boardrooms. Japan stands 121st out of 153 in the World Economic Forum’s gender equality rankings.
Though some on the street have called for him to resign — several hundred Olympic volunteers say they are withdrawing — most decision makers have stopped short of this and have simply condemned his remarks. Japan is a country that works largely on consensus with politicians — often elderly and male — acting behind the scenes and leaking trial balloons to sense public sentiment.
His replacement is reported to be 84-year-old Saburo Kawabuchi, a former president of the Japanese soccer association.
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Olympic News: Tokyo Olympic Chief Yoshiro Mori Creates Controversy with Sexist Remarks
Originally published Feb. 4, 2021 on Extra Inning Softball
If the Japanese leaders of this Summer’s Tokyo Olympic Games wanted to take the focus off speculation that the event will be cancelled, they got their wish yesterday.
But it’s certainly not in a way they would have hoped for.
Click HERE to read our story Tokyo Olympic Games: Will They Be Cancelled This Year? Some Are Saying “Yes”
As reported by Rurika Imahashi and Francesca Regaldo of Nikkei Asia, sexist remarks made by Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori have drawn international condemnation, in a further blow to organizers who face criticism for persisting in holding the event this summer despite rising COVID-19 infections and costs.
Per the Nikkei Asia story, Mori, 83, on Wednesday said board meetings with a lot of women “take so much time,” in comments about a government initiative to increase representation of female directors.
“Women have a strong sense of competition,” and that is why “everyone speaks” so much, he added.
The remark immediately caught domestic attention and many Japanese people vented their feelings on social media. His comments eclipsed the International Olympics Committee’s publication the same day of its action guidelines for sports federations.
The comments quickly made waves overseas, were picked up in publications ranging from The New York Times to The Washington Post as well as the Associated Press and ESPN.
“I apologize and am remorseful for the remarks,” Mori told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday. He said he “withdraws” his comments as they were inappropriate and against the Olympic spirit. However, he said he has “no intention” to step down.
That doesn’t mean, however, he won’t have to deal with his comments down the road.
“Definitely going to corner this guy at the breakfast buffet,” Hayley Wickenheiser, a Canadian IOC member, tweeted on Thursday.
Definitely going to corner this guy at the breakfast buffet 🙄🤦♀️😂. See ya in Tokyo!! #oldboysclub https://t.co/C4ENCQjik9
— Hayley Wickenheiser (@wick_22) February 4, 2021
“Yes, Mr. Mori, women can be concise. For example, to answer you, two words are sufficient: ‘Shut up’,” Nathalie Loiseau, a French politician currently serving as a Member of European Parliament, tweeted in French on Thursday.
Mori, a former prime minister, has a track record of making disparaging remarks.
In 2000, when recalling a 1969 election win, he said: “When I was greeting farmers from my car, they all went into their homes. I felt like I had AIDS.” As prime minister (2000-2001), his cabinet approval rating plummeted to 9% after poorly handling a fatal collision between a Japanese fishing vessel and a U.S. submarine.
Yet despite his gaffes and unpopularity, Mori was nominated as Tokyo 2020 president in January 2014 after a three-party meeting between the Japanese government, the Tokyo metropolitan government, and the Japan Olympic Committee.
Hakubun Shimomura, Olympic minister at that time, said that Mori was the best candidate because of his strong network with domestic and overseas sports and business circles. Mori has been involved in national sports organizations since he retired from politics in 2001, including the Japan Rugby Union.
The government reportedly offer the job to other candidates, such as Fujio Mitarai, president of Canon at that time, and Fujio Cho, the then honorary chairman of Toyota Motor. Both of them declined the offer.
On Twitter, posts with hashtag “#Please resign, Mr. Yoshiro Mori” went viral.
Noriko Mizoguchi, a former Japanese Olympic judo silver medalist, tweeted the IOC code of ethics, pointing to a clause on protecting human rights and rejecting any form of discrimination.
In an interview with the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, Mori stressed that he had “no intention to disparage women,” but suggested that he would resign if public calls grow for him to be ousted.
— Rurika Imahashi and Francesca Regaldo, Nikkei Asia