Home | Sports | TOKYO OLYMPICS PRESIDENT RESIGNS, BUT ...

TOKYO OLYMPICS PRESIDENT RESIGNS, BUT ...

Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font

MBABANE – The resignation of Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organising committee, should not scare local athletics.

This was the view of Athletics Eswatini President Zakhele Dlamini when queried on latest development on the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The game will be held in Japan from July 23 to August 8. The country is expected to be represented in the Olympic games and some of the candidates poised for qualification are Sibusiso ‘Swazibolt’ Matsenjwa, Phumlile Ndzinisa. Others are swimmers Robyn Young and Simanga to mention a few.

The 83-year-old made sexist comments about women during an online meeting of the committee’s Board of trustees earlier this month. The comments cannot be repeated on this publication due their sensitive nature.

Dlamini said athletics should remain positive despite the challenges faced by the IOC.

“I read the reports that Mori had resigned. It was unfortunate as he was reported that he played a huge role in organising the games. However, our local athletics should keep their head up and remain positive that the games would continue. They are currently in Pretoria preparing for upcoming competitions and for qualifications ahead of the games,” Dlamini said.

Mori later retracted his words, acknowledging that it was inappropriate.

The former Japanese prime minister refused to resign at the time, but his comments had drawn sharp criticism in Parliament, where some opposition politicians demanded that he quit.

“I will be resigning from the president’s position,”Mori was quoted by skyports.com.

“The important thing is that the Olympic Games is to be held in July. If I am going to be (an obstacle) to the games’ delivery then that is something I think we should avoid.”

Mori’s comments had been criticised by games sponsor Toyota, among others. On Tuesday, a group of female Japanese politicians wore white as a mark of protest against his remarks. “I didn’t mean for (my remarks) to be neglecting women, but I guess it was broadcasted in that way,” Mori said.

“I actually worked a lot to allow women to be able to ‘voice out’, even more than men.

appointed

“There were times when the females were not voicing out, but I had appointed a couple of women so I can give them an environment and an opportunity to state whatever it is they wanted to say.”

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach was confident the Tokyo games would go ahead this summer but had admitted that there may be no crowds.

“He gave me a lot of words of encouragement and he also praised me for being able to bring Tokyo 2020 to this point in time,” Mori said.

“He expressed his respect for the efforts that I have made.”

In response to Mori’s resignation, Bach said: “The IOC fully respects President Mori’s decision to step down and understands his reasons for doing so. At the same time, we would like to thank him for his outstanding contribution to the organisation of the postponed Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 over the course of the past years,” Bach said.

“Among his many accomplishments, President Mori helped to make Tokyo the best-ever prepared Olympic city. The IOC will continue working hand-in-hand with his successor to deliver safe and secure Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in 2021.”

International Olympic Committee president Bach thanked Mori for his ‘outstanding contribution.

John Coates, chair of the IOC coordination commission, added: “Throughout our eight years working together, President Mori was a strong and effective leader, who could always be trusted to find solutions even in the most difficult circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. The cooperation with President Mori has been outstanding. I would like to thank him for all his support and dedication.”

The IOC says it remains ‘as committed as ever to the safe and successful delivery’ of the Games and welcomes the fact that the organising committee will follow due process to determine the new president. The Tokyo 2020 Council and Executive Board will form a Candidate Review Committee immediately to draw up a list of potential successors to the role, comprising a 50:50 split of female/male members.

Kyodo recently reported that Saburo Kawabuchi, a former chair of the Japanese Football Association and one of the key figures in the foundation of its professional football competition the J.League, is poised to replace Mori.

However, Tokyo 2020 said it will begin work immediately to address gender equality initiatives after it recognised the ratio of men to women on both the Tokyo 2020 Council and Executive Board was low and needed to be increased.

Mori’s resignation is the latest setback for this year’s games, set to go ahead on July 23 despite large swathes of the public saying they believe the multi-sports event should be postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic.

The games were due to take place last summer but were delayed by 12 months.

Comments (0 posted):

Post your comment comment

Please enter the code you see in the image: