 "Tokyo Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto set to head organizing committee")
Japan's minister in charge of holding the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Seiko Hashimoto, has been selected by a panel to head the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee after Yoshiro Mori stepped down from the post in the wake of his controversial remarks about women, media reported on Wednesday.
According to NHK broadcaster, Hashimoto, 56 a former Olympic athlete, has emerged as the Tokyo Organizing Committee's sole candidate to replace Mori, 83.
Hashimoto first competed in speed skating at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics. She finished the Olympic career in Atlanta in 1996 as part of a cycling team in the competition.
Mori, the former Japanese prime minister, was widely criticized earlier this month after appearing to oppose the appointment of more women to the board of the Japanese Olympic Committee, saying that meetings would take too long. The Tokyo Olympics organizing committee chief apologized for his comments the next day and retracted his statement.
The Tokyo Games were scheduled to be held last summer, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the International Olympic Committee to postpone the event for a year.
A new date for the start of the Tokyo Olympics has been set for July 23, 2021.