Tokyo chief says gender equality efforts as important as ever
Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics will give promoting gender equality as high a priority as efforts to ensure a coronavirus-free Games, their head said on Wednesday.
Seiko Hashimoto, admitting that the COVID-19 epidemic had left many people worried heading toward the Games, said organizers planned to release detailed coronavirus guidelines on Thursday for the torch relay starting in late March.
Hashimoto was named president of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing committee last week, replacing 83-yearold former prime minister Yoshiro Mori, who resigned after setting off a furor with sexist remarks.
Hashimoto said the organizing committee had set up a gender equality promotion team and reiterated a goal to boost the proportion of women on its board to 40 per cent.
“Even with limited time until the Games, we will work hard so people can look back and say this is a big turning point for Japan,” Hashimoto told reporters in reference to the new equality team.
She spoke after a meeting with the International Olympic Committee board, and as — in remarks unlikely to calm public concerns over the Olympics — the minister overseeing Japan's vaccination program told a separate event that the Games were not part of his planning.
About 1,000 Games volunteers have quit since early this month, while four torch runners resigned so far, according to the organizing team.
Responding to what was essential for the Games to go ahead, 80 per cent said a fall in the number of coronavirus patients in Japan, while 76 per cent said preventive measures such as vaccines, a poll of Paralympic sporting groups by public broadcaster NHK said.
Japan recorded 1,083 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, NHK said, well off a peak of almost 8,000 on Jan. 8. The Olympics, which were cancelled last year due to COVID -19, are set to run from July 23 to Aug. 8 and the Paralympics from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.
BRISBANE FRONT-RUNNER TO LAND 2032 GAMES
The Australian city of Brisbane was picked as the preferred partner to start talks for the 2032 Games, the IOC said on Wednesday, in the first step to being named Olympic hosts.
IOC President Thomas Bach said the IOC had approved a recommendation of the commission in charge of future hosts.
Several cities and countries had publicly expressed an interest in the 2032 Games including Brisbane, Indonesia, Budapest, China, Doha and Germany's Ruhr valley among others.
The IOC overhauled its bidding rules in 2019 to reduce costs and make the process easier for cities. There are no official candidate cities campaigning ahead of the vote as has been the case in the past.