Mori resigns as Tokyo 2020 chief after sexist controversy

The president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games organising committee, Japan's Yoshiro Mori, announced his resignation today following the controversy sparked by his sexist comments last week during a meeting of the committee's board. 

"I will resign from the position of chairman of the committee," Mori said during a meeting in Tokyo on Friday, the first part of which was open to the media. 

The 83-year-old former Japanese prime minister made the announcement at the meeting of the council and executive board members of the body in charge of Tokyo 2020, which was convened to discuss the consequences of Mori's comments and where a decision on his successor is also expected. 

"My inappropriate statements have caused a lot of chaos," admitted Mori, who again expressed his "deep apologies" to the organising committee and society as a whole, as he did last week after his sexist comments made last Wednesday came to light. 

“I heard someone say that if we increase the number of women on the board we have to regulate speaking time in some way or, if not, we will never finish,” Mori said then during a meeting of the Olympic Committee of Japan where the increase of the number of women members from 20% to 40% was discussed.

Since then, there has been no end of criticism from various sectors of the political and sporting world, both inside and outside Japan, including from the International Olympic Committee, which called his words "absolutely inappropriate" and "in contradiction" with the principles of the body. 

"The important thing is that the Games are held as planned,” stressed Mori by submitting your resignation today.

The until now head of Tokyo 2020 also wanted to highlight that his intention “was not to belittle women” by making these controversial statements.

“I have worked hard so that women are very listened to, more than men,” said Mori, who highlighted the “efforts” she has made during her career to integrate more women into the Olympic and Paralympic movements.

The Tokyo 2020 leadership will continue to meet on Friday with the main task of appointing a successor to Mori, a position for which candidates such as the current head of the Tokyo Olympic Village, Saburo Kawabuchi, or the minister in charge of the Olympics, Seiko Hashimoto, are being considered, according to Japanese media reports.