Can Japan's Once-Strong Olympic Spirit Be Restored?; New JOC President Hashimoto Faces a Challenge

Yomiuri Shimbun

20 hours ago

In June, the Japan Olympic Committee selected Seiko Hashimoto, 60, as its new president. Hashimoto is a member of the House of Councillors and a former president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. She became the first female president of the JOC not long after the International Olympic Committee elected its own first female president, Kirsty Coventry, in March of this year. How Hashimoto will revitalize the Olympic movement in Japan is a topic of great interest.
The JOC presidential election was held on June 26, following the resignation of President Yasuhiro Yamashita. Since the JOC became independent from the Japan Sports Association (now the Japan Sport Association) in 1989, it has been customary for candidates to be narrowed down to a single choice behind the scenes. But this time, the selection was made by a vote for the first time in history.
The three candidates were Hashimoto plus former Japan Football Association President Kozo Tashima, 67, and Japan Basketball Association President Yuko Mitsuya, 66. During a closed-door board meeting, each candidate stated their goals. Hashimoto won a majority of the votes in a secret ballot by the board members.
Hashimoto participated in a total of seven Summer and Winter Olympics in speed skating and cycling. At the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, she won a bronze medal in the women's 1,500-meter speed skating event.
She has also served as a member of the House of Councillors since 1995 and is currently in her sixth term. During that time, she has served as minister for the Olympics and Paralympics, as well as president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Within domestic sports organizations, she has served as president of the Japan Skating Federation, and vice president of the JOC. She is currently also president of the Japan Rifle Shooting Association and the Japan Cycling Federation.
At a press conference after her election, Hashimoto said: 'As the first female president of the JOC, I feel a great sense of responsibility. The JOC is in crisis. I want to propose reform plans. It is our mission to demonstrate Japan's ability to host the Olympics again and prepare for it.'
The Olympic movement in Japan certainly is in crisis. Following the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021, corruption and collusion scandals surrounding the Games were exposed, tarnishing the Olympic brand. In the aftermath of this, Sapporo, which had been bidding to host the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, announced in October 2023 that it was withdrawing its bid. In December of the same year, the city also announced the 'suspension' of future bid activities.
Considering this situation, three Japanese companies — Toyota Motor Corp., Panasonic Holdings Corp. and Bridgestone Corp. — withdrew from the IOC's top-tier sponsorship program, allowing their contracts to expire last year. This marks the first time that there are no Japanese companies as top-tier sponsors. Japan's presence in the international Olympic movement has never been weaker.
Traditionally, Japan has been the non-Western country that best understands, participates in, and supports the Olympic movement. Jigoro Kano, the founding father of judo, was elected the first Asian member of the IOC in May 1909. Japan made its Olympic debut at the fifth edition of the Games, the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.
Furthermore, Japan hosted the first Olympics ever held in Asia in Tokyo in 1964, followed by a second Tokyo Olympics in 2021. It also hosted the Winter Olympics in Sapporo in 1972 and in Nagano in 1998. With a total of four Summer and Winter Olympics, Japan ranks third in the world in terms of the number of times it has hosted the Games. Only the United States, with eight Games, and France, with six, have been Olympic hosts more often.
The latest Tokyo Olympics were particularly challenging, as they were postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were held mostly without spectators. In May of this year, Thomas Bach, the former president of the IOC, visited Japan to attend a ceremony at which he received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun. He praised the Tokyo Olympics, saying: 'The fact that the Games could be held was largely due to Japan's values of strength in the face of adversity and a sense of responsibility. In that time of crisis, we delivered the most precious gift of hope to the world.' He also expressed his gratitude in Japanese, saying, 'Thank you very much, everyone.'
However, even though the Tokyo Games were highly praised around the world, they became a catalyst for dampening the Olympic movement in Japan due to corruption scandals.
Bach was among the people who encouraged Hashimoto to run for JOC president. During his May visit, he told her: 'The president of the JOC should be an Olympian. Seiko must run for the presidency.'
One reason Sapporo's bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics failed was a lack of coordination between the JOC and the IOC. This strong encouragement from the IOC leadership must have motivated Hashimoto to run for president.
Upon taking office, Hashimoto wasted no time in taking action. On Aug. 6, she and other JOC executives attended the Peace Memorial Ceremony at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, held on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of that city. The purpose was to reflect on the Olympics' role in promoting a peaceful society through sports. It was the first time the JOC had participated in such an event.
Hashimoto took part in a moment of silence at 8:15 a.m., the time the atomic bomb was dropped, and offered a prayer at the memorial cenotaph. She stated: 'The IOC is committed to promoting lasting world peace. As an organization that walks alongside the IOC, the JOC is dedicated to contributing to peace, and it is with this mindset that we attended the ceremony.'
Hashimoto was born on Oct. 5, 1964, five days before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics that year. Her given name, Seiko, is said to have been chosen in reference to the Olympic flame, called 'seika' in Japanese. Having participated in seven Summer and Winter Olympics, Hashimoto has been called the 'child of the Olympics.' In a sense, she is poised to be a key figure in the revival of the Olympic movement in Japan.
As the first female president of the JOC, and someone who is deeply connected to the Olympics, will she be able to spark a movement to bring the Olympics and Paralympics back to Japan? We look forward to seeing what she will accomplish.
Political Pulse appears every Saturday.
Yuji Kondo
Yuji Kondo is a senior writer in the Sports Department of The Yomiuri Shimbun