Tokyo 2020 organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said on Friday he is stepping down from the post after controversial remarks he made about women sparked an uproar.

"My inappropriate statement has caused a lot of chaos... I wish to resign as president as of today," he told a meeting of the executive board of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

"What's important is the success of the Olympics," a person close to Mori quoted him as saying.

The 83-year-old set off a firestorm on social media both at home and abroad when he said during a meeting of the Japan Olympic Committee earlier this month that women talk too much.

Mori, who served as Japanese prime minister for one year between April 2000 and 2001, later retracted his remarks and apologized.

But the comments nevertheless attracted a wave of criticism from athletes, sponsors, volunteers, diplomats and media.

Who will succeed Mori is still unclear. Saburo Kawabuchi, an 84-year-old former president of the Japan Football Association had been tapped to take over, but Asahi newspaper reported on Friday that he had declined the job. 

(Cover: A man holds a sign demanding the resignation of Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori outside the Japan Olympic Museum in Tokyo, Japan, February 11, 2021. /CFP)

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