TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2021) Only 6.8 percent of Japanese nationals believe that the president of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, ex-Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, is still qualified to hold the top position following his sexist remarks about women, a fresh poll conducted by Kyodo news agency revealed on Sunday.
The scandal broke out on Wednesday, when the National Olympic Committee met to discuss ways to increase the share of women on the board of directors to 40 percent. Mori remarked that board meetings involving many women take much longer. As an example, he cited board meetings of the Japan Rugby Football Union. The politician linked it to a high competitive spirit among women, who, he claimed, feel necessary to get a word in if one of them has spoken out on some issue. The remarks provoked a huge backlash, prompting the 83-year-old politician to apologize.
According to the poll, 59.9 percent of respondents believe that Mori is "not qualified" to serve in the top post, while 32 percent of respondents expressed neutral position.
At the same time, over 82 percent of those polled spoke in favor of the full cancellation or another postponement of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which are to be held in Tokyo this summer.
On Thursday, Mori convened a press conference and publicly apologized for his remarks, explaining that the race for a formal increase in the number of women in the governing bodies of sports organizations raises concerns. Mori also recalled that he had been preparing the Tokyo Olympics for seven years, and used all his political experience for this. The official considers holding the Olympics in Tokyo to be the last mission in his life.
The head of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, also considers that Mori's apology is sufficient for settling the incident.
The Olympic Games in Tokyo were initially to be held in 2020 but postponed to July-August 2021 over the COVID-19 pandemic.
