Olympic venue set to allow full membership to women
TOKYO: The golf venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has decided to change its rules to allow women to become full members after coming under fire at home and abroad for not endorsing gender equality.
The decision was made unanimously by those present at an extraordinary meeting of Kasumigaseki Country Club’s executive board held in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture on Monday, following calls by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that Games venues should have nondiscriminatory regulations.
The golf club, set to host the men’s and women’s golf competitions at the 2020 Olympics, had been criticised for its policy of not allowing women to become full members or to play on Sundays, after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike raised the issue in January.
Several renowned golf courses including Augusta and St Andrews have opened their membership to women in recent years.
“We decided to open the path for women, taking into consideration the trends of the world and thinking about the future regardless of the Olympics,” said the club’s general manager Hiroshi Imaizumi.
The regulation of the club, which has more than 200 female members, was changed to say that full membership will be granted to “a person who has reached a certain age” from the earlier version that said “a man who has reached a certain age.”
IOC vice president John Coates, who chairs the IOC’s coordination commission overseeing preparations for the Tokyo Games, welcomed the club’s decision to “change its membership regulations in favour of full gender equality.”
“We can now look forward to a great Olympic golf tournament at Kasumigaseki Country Club at Tokyo 2020. As we have said all along, gender equality is a fundamental principle of the Olympic movement,” he said.
Yoshiro Mori, president of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organising committee, said he is pleased with the move that keeps with the spirit of the Olympic charter.
“I’d like to extend my gratitude to the members of the club for their understanding and co-operation,” Mori said in a statement.
“I also would like to express my admiration for the club’s endeavour to come to an agreement in such a short period of time.”