Tokyo Olympics 2020 President Yoshiro Mori has sparked a controversy after he made a sexist remark on the board members. He said, “board of directors meet with many women may take a lot of time” because they “have difficulty” in speaking concisely.
His sexist remark draw criticism from all walks of life. Netizens were also asking him to step down from the post. After the matter snowballed, Mori issued an apology but insisted that he has no plan to step down.
The apology came a day after Mori complained about what he believes is women’s tendency to talk too much and to have “a strong sense of rivalry” when he was asked about increasing gender diversity among board members of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC). “It was a careless remark and I want to express my apologies. I had no intention of discriminating against women,” Kyodo News quoted Mori as saying.
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Mori added that he is aware of the public outcry and said he would step down if the controversy, or any other issue he is involved in, has a negative impact on the games.
He made the comments in a JOC meeting held online and open to the media. The JOC board has 25 members, of whom five are women.
At a press conference later in the day he stressed he has “no intention to resign,” but admitted his comments ran counter to the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Kyodo News reported.
On Tuesday, Mori had said that the Olympic games will go ahead no matter how the coronavirus pandemic situation evolves.
“We will make sure the Games will be held no matter how the COVID-19 situation will be. We go beyond the discussion of whether we hold (the Games) or not hold. We are to come up with ‘new’ Olympics,” CNN had quoted Mori as saying in a news conference.
The Tokyo Olympics were postponed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Games are now scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8 while the Paralympics will take place from August 24 to September 5.