Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese prime minister, had complained that women cause meetings to run long by talking too much. His exit would further complicate the delayed Games.
Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, was expected to resign on Friday, a little over a week after he unleashed a firestorm by suggesting that women talk too much in meetings. His resignation would follow unrelenting international criticism of his sexist remarks, which presented another challenge to Japan’s efforts to carry off the postponed Games amid a raging pandemic. Mr. Mori has not given any official indication that he will leave, and both the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo organizing committee declined to comment on Japanese news media reports that he would step down. Mr. Mori, who is 83 and a former prime minister of Japan, had made the controversial remarks after an executive meeting on Feb.3 of the Japanese Olympic Committee. During the session, which was streamed online, he addressed efforts to increase female representation on the panel by expressing worries that meetings would drag on as women vied against each other to speak the longest. A backlash swiftly followed, and Mr. Mori apologized the next day at a news conference. He said he expected to remain in his post, but said he would resign if he was deemed “an obstacle.” Although some high-ranking political leaders in Japan, including Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, expressed disappointment in Mr.
