A sexist remark cost the ex-head of the Japanese Organizing Committee for the 2021 Olympics his post. But that was obviously not his only mistake.
Tokyo – Actually, the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo should be a big festival for athletes from all over the world. But first the Olympics had to be postponed by one year to 2021 due to the corona pandemic, then smaller and larger scandals crept in again and again. So it won’t be easy for the Olympics in 2021. The head of the organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, was the focus of a scandal in February 2021. The now 84-year-old took up his post in 2014, but had to vacate his post this year – six months before the start of the games.
The reason: The organizing committee for the Olympics 2021 planned to increase the proportion of women on the board from 20 to 40 percent. At an online board meeting, Yoshiro Mori commented on the plans, which he apparently did not welcome. Because, according to Mori, meetings with women are always drawn out because the women who are competing with each other all want to talk. Women have a strong sense of rivalry, the boss at the time was quoted as saying. “If either of them raises their hand, they probably think they have to say something too. And then everyone says something. “
Olympia 2021: Yoshiro Mori has to resign after sexist remark
There was criticism for the sexist remark. Around 390 volunteer Olympic helpers then declared that they did not want to take up their honorary office as a protest. Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike said, according to the media, that she will not attend a scheduled meeting with Mori, Japan’s Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto and IOC President Thomas Bach in preparation for the Olympics. Mori then announced his resignation.
But according to the Daily Beast, that should not have been Yoshiro Mori’s only misconduct. According to a report, the former head of the Organizing Committee of the 2021 Olympics would rather hire a Japanese baseball player to ignite the Olympic flame than tennis ace Naomi Osaka. This was reported by an insider from the Daily Beast. “Mori wanted ‘Godzilla’ to light the Olympic flame,” said a committee employee.
Yoshiro Mori really wanted Hideki Matsui to ignite the fire at the 2021 Olympics
“Godzilla” is the nickname of Hideki Matsui, a legendary Japanese baseball player who played for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan and the New York Yankees in the United States. In his two-decade career, he managed 507 home runs. Yoshiro Mori pleaded for Matsui to light the “sacred fire” at the 2021 Olympics, as the insider reported according to the Daily Beast. Mori said, “Matsui is a real Japanese man and a baseball champion in the US and Japan – the embodiment of a fighter.”
There were other suggestions, but Yoshiro Mori wasn’t open-minded. “Mori wanted Matsui. If he wanted something to be changed or done, it was done. Mori was basically the voice of God, ”said another Olympic Committee employee. When Mori left his post in February 2021, it was quickly decided that Naomi Osaka would light the Olympic flame.
Olympia 2021: Naomi Osaka lights an Olympic flame
Naomi Osaka’s mother is Japanese and her father is from Haiti. Since the grandfather disowned her mother because she had married a black man, the family emigrated to the United States. On her 22nd birthday, Osaka gave up her American citizenship, as a law in Japan stipulates that if you have dual citizenship you must have decided on one by then. Osaka is heavily involved in the “Black Lives Matter” movement. (msb)
