Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori has resigned and again apologised for his sexist remarks that sparked a global outcry, leaving the troubled Games searching for a new boss five months from the start.
“My inappropriate comments caused big trouble. I am sorry,” Mr Mori, 83, said at an Olympic organising committee meeting on Friday.
He said the most important thing now was for the Tokyo Olympics to be a success.
His resignation only months before the postponed Summer Games are scheduled to begin will further erode confidence in the organisers’ ability to pull off the event during a coronavirus pandemic.
Among candidates considered to succeed him is Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto, media said.
Ms Hashimoto, 56, is a seven-time Olympian and pioneering female poltician. Her first name is based on the Japanese words for the Olympic flame and she was born just days before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics opened.
Mr Mori, a former Japanese prime minister, sparked a furore when he said during an Olympic committee meeting earlier this month that meetings involving females tended to drag on.
After a global outcry for him to be sacked, he apologised for his comments but refused to step down.
Mr Mori said on Friday that though he may have said something unnecessary, he did not do it intentionally and felt his comments were misinterpreted by the media, adding he was not prejudiced against women.
“I have been trying to support women as much as possible, and I have been trying to support women more than men so they can speak,” he said.
On Thursday, Mr Mori asked the mayor of the Olympic village, 84-year-old Saburo Kawabuchi, to take over the top position, but by Friday public criticism of his hand-picked successor, another older, male, reportedly saw Mr Kawabuchi turn down the job.
Local broadcaster Fuji News Network reported the government would seek to block the nomination of Mr Kawabuchi.
“We can’t give the impression that things have changed unless we install a woman or see a generational shift,” FNN cited a government source as saying.
The Mori controversy has done “serious reputation damage” to the Tokyo Olympics, said one source involved in the Olympics.
The source, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said many officials want a woman to replace Mr Mori.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga had asked Mr Mori if there was either a younger or a female candidate to succeed, but Mr Mori recommended Mr Kawabuchi, Mr Kawabuchi said.
