Yoshiro Mori resigned as the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee on Friday after sexist comments made last week in which he said women “talk too much.”

The resignation of the former Japanese prime minister at an executive board meeting has left a mess in its wake. And it comes just over five months before the postponed Olympics are to open in the middle of a pandemic with public sentiment overwhelmingly against the games. The pandemic is one reason, and soaring costs are another.

The executive board did not immediately choose a successor for Mori, which CEO Toshiro Muto said would come “as soon as possible” and will be made by a review committee. He called it a “single-digit body” made up equally of men and women, and he repeatedly declined to give a specific time frame.

Muto also declined to say if Mori’s replacement would be a woman. Gender inequality in Japan is exactly the issue that was raised last week by Mori’s demeaning comments, and what drove his ouster. Women are largely absent in the boardroom and in top politics in Japan, and Muto acknowledged that the organizing committee has too few women in leadership roles, and no women at the vice president level.

“For myself in selecting the president, I don’t think we need to discuss or debate gender,” Muto said. “We simply need to choose the right person.”

AUTO RACING

TRUCKS: Ben Rhodes raced to his first career victory at Daytona International Speedway with a last-corner pass in the NASCAR Truck Series opener.

Rhodes was tailing Cory Roper when he slowed to hook up with teammate Matt Crafton for a push. Crafton threw a block and darted to the top, creating momentum that helped Rhodes pull even with Roper.

Multiple trucks crashed behind the leaders and Rhodes edged ahead on the outside. Jordan Anderson ducked low around Rhodes, but Rhodes held him off by 0.036 seconds.

COLLEGES

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Christyn Williams broke out of a slump with 19 points and No. 2 UConn (16-1, 13-0 Big East) overcame another slow start to beat Georgetown 64-40 for its sixth consecutive victory.

Georgetown (1-10, 1-10) lost its ninth in a row.

• Michaela Onyenwere scored 25 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead No. 8 UCLA (12-3, 9-3 Pac-12) to a 69-58 win over Utah (5-12, 4-12 Pac-12) in Salt Lake City.

• Jasmine Franklin had 16 points and 10 rebounds for Missouri State (12-2, 8-0 Missouri Valley Conference) in a 69-52 win over Illinois State (9-5, 6-5) in Normal, Illinois.

SKELETON

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: A year ago, Tina Hermann became the first woman to win back-to-back world skeleton championships.

She’s done one better now. Hermann has now won three consecutive world titles, rallying in the final heat Friday to beat fellow German slider Jacqueline Loelling for this year’s crown in Altenberg, Germany. Hermann finished four runs over two days in 3 minutes, 52.97 seconds – 0.11 seconds ahead of Loelling, who was the leader going into the final run.

Russian sliders Elena Nikitina and Alina Tararychenkova were third and fourth respectively; Tararychenkova was tied for fourth by Germany’s Sophia Griebel. Katie Uhlaender of the U.S. was sixth in her final world championships. Kendall Wesenberg was 19th for the U.S. and Sara Roderick was 24th in her first trip to the world championships.

Germany’s Christopher Grotheer, who was third by 0.06 seconds at the race’s midway point, rallied to win the men’s world championships in 3:46.31. Alexander Tretiakov was second, 0.28 seconds back; Russian sliders like Tretiakov had to compete under a neutral flag because of doping sanctions against Russia. Germany’s Alexander Gassner was third, 1.20 seconds off the winning time.

Austin Florian was 15th for the U.S. and Austin McCrary was 29th.

 

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