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The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) picked former Olympic judo champion Yasuhiro Yamashita as its new chief after the resignation of Tsunekazu Takeda, who is being investigated for suspected corruption related to the Tokyo 2020 bid.
Yamashita won nine consecutive national championships during his judo career and a gold medal in the men's open-weight category at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. He has been chairman of Japan's judo federation and a JOC executive.
Japan's Yasuhiro Yamashita (R), former Olympic and world champion, presents medals to winners at the under-57kg event during the Judo World Championships in Chelyabinsk, Russia, August 27, 2014. /VCG Photo
French prosecutors have questioned Takeda in Paris and placed him under formal investigation in December as part of their corruption inquiry.
Takeda, who was president of the 2020 bidding committee, has apologized for "causing disturbance to the public" and resigned from the International Olympic Committee, but has maintained his innocence.
"I feel the weight of responsibility of becoming the chairman at this time," Yamashita told a news conference in Tokyo.
"I believe in Mr. Takeda's innocence and that such a verdict will be handed down eventually."
He pledged to boost the integrity and governance of the JOC, but gave no details.
Takeda, who has headed the JOC since 2001, is still listed as an executive on the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee. It was not clear whether he would remain in that role.
Japan's then JOC chief Tsunekazu Takeda speaks to the press in Tokyo, Japan, March 19, 2019. /VCG Photo
French investigators are in the midst of a years-long inquiry into corruption in athletics, and early in 2016 extended their inquiry into bidding and voting for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
French judges decided that former global athletics chief Lamine Diack will be tried on charges of corruption, money laundering and breach of trust over a scheme to cover up athletes' doping.
The French authorities are looking into payments of more than two million U.S. dollars from the Tokyo bidding committee to Black Tidings, a consulting company which served as a conduit for bribes between athletes and Diack, according to the documents seen by Reuters.
French prosecutors are investigating whether Tokyo's payments to Black Tidings were bribes to Lamine Diack, through his son, in exchange for influencing African members' votes on the 2020 bids.