TOKYO: Tokyo 2020’s new president Seiko Hashimoto on Thursday vowed to “regain trust” in the Olympic organising committee after an embarrassing sexism row, with just over five months until the virus-postponed Games.

Hashimoto, a seven-time Olympian, had been one of just two women in Japan’s cabinet, serving as Olympic minister before stepping down to take the key post.

The 56-year-old Hashimoto was named president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee after a meeting of its executive board, which is 80% male. She replaces 83-year-old Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese prime minister who was forced to resign last week after making sexist comments about women.

Essentially, he said women talk too much.

The new president is tied to the Olympics in many ways. She was born in Hokkaido in northern Japan just five days before the Opening Ceremony of the 1964 Tokyo Games. Her name “Seiko” comes from “Seika,“which translates as Olympic Flame in English.