Legendary Olympic athlete takes control of Tokyo Games after sexist reaction

TOKYO (AP) – Seiko Hashimoto appeared in seven Olympics, four in the winter and three in the summer – the maximum for any “multi-season” athlete in the games.

She made even more history on Thursday in Japan, where women are still rare in boards of directors and positions of political power.

Hashimoto, 56, was named chairman of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee after a meeting of its executive board, which is 80% male. She replaces Yoshiro Mori, 83, a former Japanese prime minister who was forced to resign last week after making sexist comments about women.

Essentially, he said that women talk too much.

“Now I’m here to repay what I owe as an athlete and to repay what I received,” said Hashimoto to the board, according to an interpreter.

Hashimoto served as an Olympic minister in Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s office. She also created a portfolio that dealt with gender equality and women’s empowerment. She said she would be replaced as an Olympic minister by Tamayo Marukawa.

She repeatedly raised the issue of gender equality and focused on the problems of the organizing committee, which is dominated by men, has no female vice presidents and has a board of directors comprised of 80% men. It employs about 3,500 people.

“Of course, it is very important what Tokyo 2020 as an organizing committee does about gender equality,” she said, sitting between two men – CEO Toshiro Muto and spokesman Masa Takaya. “I think it will be important for Tokyo 2020 to practice equality.”

International Olympic Committee chairman Thomas Bach said Hashimoto was “the perfect choice” for the job.

“With the appointment of a woman as president, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee is also sending out a very important signal regarding gender equality,” said Bach in a statement.

Hashimoto competed in cycling in three Olympic Summer Games (1988, 1992 and 1996) and in speed skating in four Winter Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992 and 1994). She won a bronze medal – her only medal – at the 1992 Albertville Games in speed skating. According to historian Dr. Bill Mallon, his seven appearances are the most by any “multi-season” athlete in the games.

Japan’s Naomi Osaka, speaking about Hashimoto after her semi-final victory over Serena Williams at the Australian Open, said “you are seeing the younger generation not tolerating many things”.

“I feel it is very good because you are moving forward, barriers are being broken, especially for women,” said Osaka. “We had to fight for so many things to be equal. Even in many things we are still not the same. “

The new president is linked to the Olympics in several ways. She was born in Hokkaido, in northern Japan, just five days before the opening ceremony of the 1964 Tokyo Games. Her name “Seiko” comes from “seika”, which translates to English Olympic flame.

According to reports widely circulated in Japan, Hashimoto was reluctant to accept the position and was one of three final candidates considered by a selection committee led by Fujio Mitarai, 85, of the camera company Canon.

The selection committee met for three consecutive days, a hasty appointment with the Olympics postponed opening in just over five months, in the middle of a pandemic and facing a myriad of problems.

Surveys show that around 80% of the Japanese public want the Olympics to be canceled or postponed again. There is a fear of bringing tens of thousands of athletes and others to Japan, which controlled the coronavirus better than most countries. There is also opposition to rising costs.

The official cost is $ 15.4 billion, although several government audits say the price is at least $ 25 billion, the most expensive Summer Olympics ever recorded, according to a study by the University of Oxford.

Naming a woman can be a major advance for gender equality in Japan, where women are underrepresented on boards of directors and in politics. Japan ranks 121st among 153 countries in the World Economic Forum’s annual gender equality ranking.

Before leaving office, Mori tried to offer the job last week to Saburo Kawabuchi, 84, a former head of the country’s football federation. But news of the deal behind closed doors has been widely criticized by social media, Japanese talk shows and newspaper news.

Kawabuchi quickly withdrew from further considerations.

Hashimoto has his critics. A Japanese magazine in 2014 published photos of her kissing figure skater Daisuke Takahashi at a party during the Sochi Olympics, suggesting it was sexual harassment or harassment of power. Later, she apologized and Takahashi said he was not bothered.

“About my reckless actions, I feel sorry for an action I took seven years ago,” she said when asked about it on Thursday. “Back then, as well as today, I am still reflecting on myself and what I did – and how it evolved.”

Two other former Olympic athletes would also have competed for Mori: Yasuhiro Yamashita, the chairman of the Japanese Olympic Committee who won gold in judo in 1984, and Mikako Kotani, who won two bronze medals in the synchronized swimming at the 1988 Olympic Games Seoul.

Kotani is the sports director of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee. The leadership of this committee is dominated by men, who represent 80% of the executive board.

Japan began distributing vaccines on Wednesday, a critical move that could boost the Olympics. It is several months behind Britain, the United States and other countries.

Generalized vaccination is unlikely in Japan, when the Olympics start on July 23 with 11,000 athletes, followed by the Paralympics on August 24 with 4,400 athletes. The plan is to keep athletes in a “bubble” in the Athletes’ Village, on the premises and in the training areas. The IOC said it would not require that “participants” be vaccinated, but it is encouraging that.

In addition to athletes, tens of thousands of employees, media, sponsors and announcers will also have to enter Japan. Many of them will operate outside the “bubble” in an Olympics that is driven by television and the billions that the IOC receives from selling transmission rights.

The first challenge for Hashimoto could be to remove the torch relay that begins on March 25 in northeastern Japan. It will cross the country with some 10,000 runners and end at the opening ceremony in Tokyo.