IOC Rebukes Tokyo 2020 Chief

(ATR) The IOC says comments last week about women made by Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori are "absolutely inappropriate and in contradiction to the IOC’s commitments and the reforms of its Olympic Agenda 2020".

Mori, 83, has encountered a wave of criticism for remarks during a Feb. 3 Japanese Olympic Committee meeting. He said that women should not speak at meetings because they talk too much.

Snap polls show overwhelming negative response to comments of the former prime minister who has led the Tokyo 2020 project from the bidding through the months of postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tokyo 2020 is already struggling against dismissive public support for the Games with more than 60 percent of those surveyed calling for another postponement or cancellation.

Today in a rare rebuke against the leader of an organizing committee, the IOC rejected Mori’s comments in a public statement. In the memory of this reporter, the IOC has never directly and publicly criticized the leader of an Olympic organizing committee. The IOC is joined in the statement by Tokyo 2020, the very organization Mori leads.

The statement does note Mori’s subsequent apology.

And while quickly dispensing criticism of Mori, the bulk of the statement dwells on the IOC’s commitment to gender equality, whether participation in the Olympic Games or membership on the IOC.

"As the leader of the Olympic Movement, we are committed to our mission to encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures, as stated in the Olympic Charter.

"Inclusion, diversity and gender equality are integral components of the work of the International Olympic Committee," says the statement.

The statement makes no demand for the resignation of Mori or other disciplinary action. Mori says he considered stepping down but now says he will not resign.

A number of European embassies in Japan have raised their concerns about Mori’s comments. Staff at the Germanembassy posted on Twitter a picture of themselves raising their hands under the hashtags "dontbesilent" and "genderequality".

Diplomats from Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden and the European Union followed the German lead.

A petition calling for Mori to resign has attracted more than 140,000 signatures at the Change.org website.

The petition is addressed to two women with great influence over Tokyo 2020: Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto.

Reported by Ed Hula.