TOKYO— Japan’s Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto, a woman who is named after the Olympic flame and competed in seven Games, is the preferred candidate to …
TOKYO— Japan’s Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto, a woman who is named after the Olympic flame and competed in seven Games, is the preferred candidate to take over the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee after her predecessor quit over sexist comments, public broadcaster NHK said. Yoshiro Mori’s resignation as president of the committee last week after saying women talk too much dealt the latest blow to the Olympic Games, already marred by an unprecedented delay and strong public opposition during the coronavirus pandemic. The panel will ask Hashimoto if she wishes to take the position, NHK said. “I am aware of the report, but the committee is an independent body that makes its own decision,” the government’s spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, said. Born days before Japan hosted the 1964 summer Games, Hashimoto took part in four Winter Olympics as a speed skater and three Summer Olympics as a cyclist.
