China News Service, Tokyo, February 18 (Reporter Lu Shaowei) On the afternoon of the 18th local time, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee convened a board of directors to elect Hashimoto Seiko as the chairman of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee.
Earlier, Seiko Hashimoto asked Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to resign as Minister of the Olympics.
Data map: Hashimoto Seiko.
Seiko Hashimoto is 56 years old and was born in Hokkaido. As a cyclist and skater, she has participated in four Winter Olympics and three Summer Olympics.
Seiko Hashimoto won the bronze medal in women's 1500m speed skating at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics and became the first Olympic medalist in Japan's women's speed skating event.
She was elected as a member of the Senate in 1995. In September 2019, she was appointed by the then Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe as Minister of Olympic Games and Minister of Women's Active Affairs. In September 2020, after Yoshihide Suga became the Prime Minister of Japan, she continued to remain in office.
On February 3, 2021, Yoshiro Mori, then chairman of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, delivered a speech at the Japanese Olympic Committee's interim committee meeting, saying that in a council with many women, the meeting would take a long time.
This statement is accused of discriminating against women.
On February 12, Yoshiro Mori announced his resignation.
The Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee subsequently established a "candidate discussion committee" to discuss the new chairman.
Japanese media have reported that the former Japanese Football Association chairman Kawabuchi Saburo, known as the "godfather" of Japanese football, and the then Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto may serve as the chairman of the Olympic Organizing Committee, but Saburo Kawabuchi then indicated to the media that he could not show any direction.
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