INTERVIEW: JOC Chief Calls for Stronger Support for Female Athletes

Tokyo, April 1 (Jiji Press)–With women making up 50 pct of qualification spots for the first time, the 2024 Paris Olympics highlighted both progress for female athletes and the need for stronger support systems to help sustain their careers, Japanese Olympic Committee President Seiko Hashimoto has said. “Times have changed, and it has become easier for women to participate,” Hashimoto, the first woman to lead the JOC, said in a recent interview. “Yet, what matters is whether the proper support systems are in place.” For an example of what such support can look like, Hashimoto pointed to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, for which she served as president of the organizing committee. The event was held one year behind the original schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A clinic for female athletes was set up inside the athletes’ village medical center, staffed entirely by women and offering services including acupuncture, massage, mental health care and dental treatment. The clinic responded to a range of needs. Some athletes could only be treated by female practitioners for religious reasons, while others required care tailored to women’s health. “We saw results we had never seen before,” Hashimoto said. “It gave us a very important insight.” She expressed hope that similar initiatives will continue at future Olympic Games. Although more women are now active across the sports world, Hashimoto said one major challenge remains: helping athletes continue their careers after having children. “There are still very few examples of women returning to competition after childbirth,” she said. To make long-term careers possible for female athletes, she argued, sports organizations need more women in support roles. “If there are no female trainers, sports doctors, managers or coaches, athletes cannot feel secure enough to continue,” she said. “We still don’t have enough (women in those roles).” Some Japanese sports federations have begun addressing the issue. The judo and sailing federations, for example, have introduced on-site child care services at competitions so that athletes and staff can remain involved in their sport while raising children. Hashimoto said she wants to strengthen such support systems further. “We need to make them more robust,” she said. Career Support According to a 2024 survey by the Sasakawa Sports Foundation, only about 30 pct of Japan’s national sports federations allotted 40 pct or more of the seats on their boards of directors to women. Hashimoto stressed that improving women’s representation in sports leadership requires more than numerical targets. “It’s not enough just to increase the numbers,” she said. “Career support is necessary from the time athletes are still competing.” “We need to expand the pool of women with track records and practical experience as athletes, managers and coaches so they can later serve as federation executives and top leaders,” she continued. Hashimoto said she shares this outlook with International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, the first woman to head the IOC. When the two met last year, they agreed on the importance of exchanging information on successful policies for supporting women’s careers in sports. They discussed the need to “share information about countries that are implementing effective initiatives,” according to Hashimoto. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]