Olympic Games: I will not be stepping down - Mori 'remorseful' over comments

Yoshiro Mori, the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee and a former prime minister, apologized on Thursday after he made derogatory comments about women made earlier in the week. Mori stopped short of offering his resignation and said he is not thinking about resigning. "I have been working hard and helped devotedly for 7 years," Mori said. It's one more problem the postponed Tokyo Olympics don't need as organizers and the International Olympic Committee try to pull off the games in the midst of a pandemic. They are to open on July 23. In an on-line meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee board of directors earlier in the week, Mori was reported by the daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun saying women talk too much in meetings. His comments have created a storm in Japan where women are grossly under-represented in politics and in board rooms. On Tuesday in a on-line meeting, Asahi reported him saying: "Women are very competitive. When one of them raises her hand, they probably think they have to say something, too. And then everyone says something." His comment came when he was asked about the presence of few women on the board of the Japanese Olympic Committee. "If we are going to have more women directors, someone has remarked, then meetings go on for a long time unless we restrict the comments. I'm not saying who that is." The Tokyo Olympics he leads are already swamped with problems. "(It) was an inappropriate expression, contrary to the spirit of the Olympics and Paralympics," Mori said in front of the media on Thursday. "I would like to withdraw the statement. About 80% of Japanese in polls says the games should be postponed or canceled in the midst of a pandemic. They also have spoken out on rising costs that may total more than $25 billion to put on these Olympics.