Lawmaker Hashimoto Picked to Become 1st Female JOC Pres.

Tokyo, June 26 (Jiji Press)--Lawmaker and former Olympian Seiko Hashimoto was elected on Thursday to the Japanese Olympic Committee's presidency, set to become the first female leader of the organization.

The 60-year-old, who was president of the organizing committee for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics held in 2021, will be on a two-year term.

At a press conference, Hashimoto said she is "deeply honored" to serve as the first female JOC leader.

"I'll buckle down and perform my duties without forgetting my original resolution," said the member of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament.

According to the JOC, Hashimoto secured a majority of votes from its Executive Board members in a meeting Thursday, defeating two rival candidates. This is the first time the JOC president was decided by a vote since the organization became independent of the predecessor of the Japan Sport Association in 1989.

Hashimoto's predecessor, Yasuhiro Yamashita, 68, served as JOC president for three terms from June 2019. Yamashita, yet to fully recover from a cervical spine injury, asked to step down from the role at the end of his term and left the board.

The JOC will discuss the appointments of other key posts in a meeting next month.

Hashimoto competed in seven Summer and Winter Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the women's 1,500-meter speed skating event at the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France. She served as minister in charge of the Tokyo Games between 2019 and 2021.

At the JOC, Hashimoto had held the role of vice president and head of the Sports Committee.

Earlier on Thursday, the JOC named 30 people as Executive Board members, including former Japan Football Association President Kozo Tashima, 67, and former JOC Vice President Yuko Mitsuya, 66. Tashima and Mitsuya were the two candidates defeated by Hashimoto.

Also on the roster were Kosei Inoue, 47, an Olympic gold medalist in men's judo, Hiromi Miyake, 39, who won a medal in two consecutive Summer Olympic Games for women's weightlifting, and Takuya Haneda, 37, an Olympic medal-winning male canoeist.

With 12 female members, women account for about 40 pct of the board, hitting a target in a governance code drawn up by the government for sports organizations.
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