Committee needs a new direction: Seiko Hashimoto

"I would like to show a new direction by the end of this month," said Hashimoto who resigned her post as Olympics minister to take on the new position.

Yoshiro Mori, 83 and a former prime minister, resigned as Tokyo 2020 president last week after saying women talk too much, a fresh blow to an event already marred by an unprecedented delay of a year due to the coronavirus pandemic and strong public opposition.

Hashimoto, who competed in seven Summer and Winter Olympics as a cyclist and a skater, now faces a raft of tough issues at the helm of one of the world's biggest sporting events with less than half a year before its delayed start.