(ATR) Tsunekazu Takeda officially announced he will retire his position of Japanese Olympic Committee President this June, relinquishing his IOC membership in the process.
Takeda stepped down as JOC President amid an investigation by French prosecutors into allegations of bribery surrounding Tokyo’s election as 2020 Olympic host city.
"When reflecting about the future of the JOC, as I reach the retirement age at the end of this term, I have come to think that it is most appropriate to hand over the baton to young leaders to open a new era with the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020," Takeda said at today’s executive board meeting, according to the JOC.
"I have decided to step down from president and executive board member of the JOC on 27 June 2019, the day of JOC Council Meeting, the day my term ends."
Takeda will also resign his IOC membership, as it is tied to his post as JOC President. He served as JOC President since 2001 for 10 terms, but would reach the retirement age of 70 during this term. The JOC reportedly was considering removing the retirement age so that Takeda could stay on as president through the Tokyo Games.
"The IOC takes note with the greatest respect of the decision taken by Mr Takeda to resign as an IOC Member," an IOC spokesperson said in a statement. "Our respect of this decision is even greater because he took this step to protect the Olympic Movement while the presumption of innocence, on which the IOC insists, continues to prevail."
Takeda was appointed to the IOC at the 2012 IOC Session based on his presidency of the JOC. He served on the influential marketing commission, which works to secure lucrative sponsorship deals for the IOC. Since joining the commission in 2014 multiple Japanese companies such as Bridgestone and Toyota became IOC TOP Sponsors.
News of Takeda being questioned by French prosecutors and the investigation progressing caught fire in the Japanese media. In response Takeda held a press conference professing his innocence while refusing to take any questions.
Prosecutors allege that Takeda orchestrated a $2 million payment to a Singaporean consulting firm Black Tidings, which served as a front to pay disgraced IOC Member Lamine Diack’s son Papa Massata Diack in exchange for votes ahead of the 2013 IOC Session. At that Session Tokyo beat out Madrid and Istanbul to win the rights to stage the 2020 Olympics. The French probe is wide-reaching with both Diacks under invesitgation along with IOC Member Frankie Fredericks.
Fredericks self-suspended himself as an IOC member, while Takeda continued to assert his innocence.
Speculation then began about Takeda’s future at the JOC. Japanese outlets began reporting Takeda’s intention to resign as early as last week. Japanese media citing sources said that the IOC had pressured the JOC and Takeda to resign, and there were subsequent reports that IOC President Bach could avoid the one year to go ceremonies if Takeda stayed on as President.
At the time, the IOC said in a statement it would not speculate about Takeda’s future, but said Bach’s travel to one year to go celebrations could be impacted by his attendance at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima.
Tokyo 2020 said in a statement to Around the Ringsthat any reports of Bach skipping the event is false, and "the IOC’s participation to the one year to go event is under discussion, but we have not heard back from the IOC yet".
The next few months will decide who is next to lead the JOC for the first time in almost two decades. Sankei News said that JOC Executive Board and gold medalist in judo from the 1984 Olympics Yasuhiro Yamashita is the frontrunner to be Takeda’s successor. The same news report said that Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Japan Skating Federation, Koji Tanabe, Japanese Football Association President, and Daichi Suzuki, Japan Sports Agency commissioner, could all be considered for the post.
Written by Aaron Bauer
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