International Gymnastics Federation President Morinari Watanabe to Run for IOC Head, But Is He a Reformer or Just Another Fool?
The Paris Olympics have just ended and the Paralympics are set to kick off next week on the 28th, but the focus is already shifting to the Los Angeles Olympics 4 years down the road. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, 70, will step down from his position at the end of his term next June. The word is that IOC member Morinari Watanabe, 65, president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), is planning to run in the election for Bach's successor in March. If elected, Watanabe would become the first Japanese head of the IOC.
While Bach was a gold medalist in the men's fencing team competition at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Watanabe never competed at the Olympics let alone medaled. After joining the Jusco retail chain in 1984, he worked as a salaryman office worker for the Aeon Group, Jusco's renamed parent corporation and served as director of the Japan Gymnastic Association. In 2017 he became FIG's first Asian president.
Under Watanabe's leadership, in November, 2000 following the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics during the COVID-19 pandemic, FIG organized a four-nation "Friendship and Bonding Competition" in Japan, inviting teams from the U.S.A., Russia and China to compete alongside the Japanese team which included legends like Kohei Uchimura. The event helped to demonstrate that the Olympics could still be held in Tokyo during the pandemic.
One gymnastics official described Watanabe. "He likes to say, 'I'm a salaryman.' He's a specialist in sports business, organizing competitions and organizing classes to popularize rhythmic gymnastics. He's very good at getting along with people, and he apparently is in regular touch with Bach on the phone. I've heard that when he was approached about IOC membership he scored a place in Bach's heart by answering, 'I'll say yes if there's work to be done, but I don't want the fame.' He has a reputation as being shrewd, but some people say he is just openly kissing Bach's ass."
That is the Watanabe who served as director of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, and when asked about the Dentsu corruption scandal surrounding Olympic sponsorship bids he argued that he was innocent of any direct wrongdoing, saying, "I was director of the organizing committee, so I bear responsibility for it happening. I feel deeply responsible for what happened because ultimately I was just sitting there in the director's chair at meetings. The duties of being director weren't clear. 90% of the people were volunteering, but all that was negated because of one person. JOC chair Yasuhiro Yamashita says he's sad about it, but I'm livid. The sports world should be angrier."
The deadline for nominations for the IOC presidential election is mid-September. One of Watanabe's major selling points is his "cleanliness" and "fairness," citing the organization of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation, a third-party organization handling athlete disciplinary procedures. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, 67, is considered the leading candidate to replace Bach, but with the IOC constantly in the midst of allegations of illicit money and corruption, it would be great Watanabe make a mark by proposing reforms to clean it up.
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translated by Brett Larner
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