Yoshiro Mori, Chairman of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee (TOGOC) (Photo = AP = Yonhap News)
After Yoshiro Mori, chairman of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee’s remarks, it was revealed that about 390 volunteers informed the organizing committee of their resignation.
According to the Tokyo Shimbun and Nippon Geizai Shimbun on the 9th, most volunteers who announced their intention to resign were said to have been cited as the reason for Mori’s remarks.
Earlier, Chairman Mori mentioned the issue of increasing female directors at the Temporary Council of the Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) held on the 3rd and said, “BODs with many women take time (to conduct meetings),” controversy over women was raised.
Of the 25 JOC members, 5 are women. JOC aims to increase the percentage of women on the board of directors to 40% in accordance with the management policy of sports organizations under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
According to Kyodo News, two Olympic torch relay runners also resigned because of President Mori’s remarks. The organizing committee has received about 350 phone calls and 4200 e-mail inquiries over the last five days, of which 90% were protests and opinions on President Mori’s remarks.
As the controversy continued to spread, the organizing committee decided to hold a joint meeting with directors and councilors on the 12th to discuss ways to respond to President Mori’s remarks.
Chairman Mori apologized to reporters on the 4th, saying, “It was an inappropriate expression against the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” when his remarks became a problem, but he said, “I have no intention of resigning.”
In this regard, the newspaper reported on the day that Chairman Mori said he had decided to resign from the chairmanship because of the thought that it “offended everyone,” after being criticized for his remarks in the Tokyo newspaper coverage the day before.
Chairman Mori told the Tokyo newspaper that the executives of the organizing committee were held back and overturned their intention to resign.
Eunji Cha, reporter Hankyung.com [email protected]
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