A legendary Olympic athlete takes over the Tokyo Games after the game against sexism

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

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

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

Essentially, he said women talk too much.

“I am now here to return what I owe as an athlete and return what I received,” Hashimoto told the board, according to an interpreter.

Hashimoto had been the Olympic minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. She also maintained a portfolio on gender equality and women’s empowerment. She said she would be replaced as Olympic minister by Tamayo Marukawa.

He raised the issue of gender equality repeatedly and focused on the problems of the organizing committee, which is dominated by men, has no female vice presidents and has an executive board made up of 80% men. It employs about 3,500 people.

“Of course, what Tokyo 2020 as an organizing committee does on gender equality is very important,” he 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 a very important signal regarding gender equality,” Bach said in a statement.

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

Japan-born Naomi Osaka spoke of Hashimoto after her semi-final victory over Serena Williams at the Australian Open and said “you see the new generation doesn’t tolerate much.”

“I think it’s really good because you’re pushing forward, barriers are being broken, especially for women,” Osaka said. “We had to fight for so many things to be the same. Even many things are still not the same.

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

According to widespread reports in Japan, Hashimoto was reluctant to take the job and was one of three final candidates considered by a selection committee headed by 85-year-old Fujio Mitarai of Canon camera company.

The selection committee met for three consecutive days, a hasty appointment with the opening of the Olympic Games postponed in just over five months amid a pandemic and one that had many problems.

Polls show that approximately 80% of the Japanese public wants the Olympics to be canceled or postponed again. There are fears of bringing tens of thousands of athletes and others to Japan, which has controlled the coronavirus better than most countries. There is also opposition to high 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 recorded according to a study by Oxford University.

Naming a woman could be a breakthrough for gender equality in Japan, where women are under-represented in boardrooms and in politics. Japan ranks 121st out of 153 countries in the World Economic Forum’s annual ranking on gender equality.

Mori, before leaving office, tried to offer the job last week to 84-year-old Saburo Kawabuchi, a former head of the country’s football federation. But reports of the closed-door deal were widely criticized on social media, Japanese talk talks and newspaper reports.

Kawabuchi quickly withdrew from any other consideration.

Hashimoto is not without critics. A Japanese magazine in 2014 published photographs of its figure skater kissing Daisuke Takahashi at a party during the Sochi Olympics, suggesting it was sexual harassment or harassment for power. He later apologized and Takahashi said he did not feel harassed.

“On my reckless actions, I feel sorry for an action I did seven years ago,” he said when asked about it on Thursday. “Then, as well as today, I’m still reflecting on myself and what I’ve done, and how it’s evolved.”

It was also reported that two other former Olympians opted for Mori’s job: 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 synchronized swimming. in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

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

Japan began deploying vaccines on Wednesday, a critical move that could boost the Olympics. He goes a few months behind Britain, the United States and other countries.

Widespread vaccination is unlikely in Japan when the Olympics open 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, venues and training areas. The IOC has said it will not require vaccinating “participants,” but is encouraging it.

In addition to athletes, tens of thousands of officers, media, sponsors and broadcasters will also have to enter Japan. Many of them will operate out of the “bubble” in a television-driven Olympics and the billions the IOC receives for the sale of broadcasting rights.

Hashimoto’s first challenge could be to remove the torch relay that begins March 25 in northeastern Japan. He will travel across the country with about 10,000 runners and finish at the opening ceremony in Tokyo.