World No.3 Naomi Osaka has welcomed the change of Japan's Olympic Ministers after former chief Yoshiro Mori stepped down for making sexist remarks.
It was announced today Seiko Hashimoto would take over as chief of the Tokyo Olympic organising committee. Hashimoto, a former athlete turned politician, is a seven-time Olympian having competed at four Winter Games and three Summer Games in speed skating and sprint cycling.
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Fifty-six-year-old Hashimoto was named president of the Tokyo Olympic organising committee after a meeting of its executive board, which is 80 per cent male. She replaces 83-year-old Mori, who is a former Japanese prime minister.
Hashimoto's arrival isn't without controversy following a large outcry in Japan and around the world after Mori made claims that women speak too much during an online meeting of the committee's board of trustees.
Fresh off her semi-final win over Serena Williams at the Australian Open today, Osaka was asked about the change in power.
She said today's unveiling was an example of what women have "had to fight for" in the battle against gender bias.
"I think for me, what it means is that there's a lot of things I think people used to accept; the things that used to be said, but you're seeing the newer generation not tolerate a lot of things," she said.
"I feel like it's really good because you're pushing forward, barriers are being broken down, especially for females.
"We've had to fight for so many things just to be equal. Even a lot of things we still aren't equal. Yeah, I thought that was a good thing."
Mori, before stepping down, tried to offer the job last week to 84-year-old Saburo Kawabuchi, a former head of the country's football federation. But reports of the behind-closed-door deal were widely criticised on social media, Japanese talk shows, and in newspaper reports.
Kawabuchi quickly withdrew from further consideration.
Hashimoto is not without her critics. A Japanese magazine in 2014 ran photographs of her embracing figure skater Daisuke Takahashi at a party during the Sochi Olympics, suggesting it was sexual harassment. She later apologized, and Takahashi said he did not feel harassed.
– with AP
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