Skip to main content

JAAF Marathon Project Leader Seko Given Official Warning After Sexual Harassment Accusation by Female TV Announcer

JAAF Board of Directors member and Marathon Development Project leader Toshihiko Seko, 62, was given an official warning by the JAAF after making inappropriate comments to a female TV announcer. Seko acknowledged having made the remarks and expressed regret, saying, "I'd like to exercise more caution about what I say."

According to the JAAF and the DeNA corporation where Seko serves as executive head coach of the men's ekiden team, at an afterparty following April's Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon where he was working as a guest commentator, Seko made inappropriate remarks toward a female TV announcer who was also attending the party. The announcer reported the incident to the network, who reassigned her superiors who had told her to attend the party.

The DeNA corporate headquarters PR office confirmed in an interview that Seko had made the inappropriate remarks and that as an employer it had given him an official warning and apologized to the TV network where the announcer is employed. In mid-July DeNA contacted the JAAF on the subject.

JAAF executives discussed the matter directly with Seko and likewise gave him an official warning. Seko said, "Sexual harassment? I don't remember anything like that," but appeared to show remorse and promised to be more careful about what he said in the future. "I apologize deeply," he said. A JAAF spokesperson commented, "We would like him to continue his duties."

A two-time Olympic marathoner in the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Games, Seko was named head of the Marathon Develop Project by the JAAF in the buildup to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Translator's note: Comments like Seko's made toward female guests and cast members are commonplace in the Japanese variety TV show world. In an old story from 2008 Seko was quoted making suggestive innuendo about a female cast member while appearing on one comedy variety show, to the apparent approval of other cast members. Like the current Nihon University football and Japanese amateur boxing scandals, this story coming to light may be a sign that attitudes are finally changing for the better.

source articles:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20180808/k10011568941000.html
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180808-00050052-yom-spo
http://bunshun.jp/articles/-/8501
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Andrew Armiger said…
Good to note this sort of thing gets addressed with appropriate gravity. Just visually, the talk shows I saw on Japanese tv appeared as progressive as those that can be seen on USA tv.
August 8, 2018 at 11:23 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...
2 comments
Read more

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...
53 comments
Read more