10,000 People Withdraw As Olympic Volunteers
Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics say about 10,000 volunteers have withdrawn from the Games as of Tuesday.
They are among the 80,000 volunteers that the organizing committee had secured for the Tokyo Games, postponed by one year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The withdrawal of volunteers began in February after then organizing committee chairman Mori Yoshiro came under criticism for his remarks taken as derogatory to women.
Even after Mori resigned from the post to take responsibility for his remarks, more volunteers continued to withdraw, citing other factors such as fears of infection or changes in their own working environment.
Committee Director General Muto Toshiro says he believes there were some people who found it hard to serve as volunteers in view of their schedules.
Muto suggests that the withdrawal of so many volunteers will not pose a problem, citing measures such as the possibility of some volunteers working for both the Olympics and Paralympics.