KYODO NEWS - Mar 19, 2019 - 21:47 | Sports, All, Japan, News

Japanese Olympic Committee chief Tsunekazu Takeda said Tuesday he will step down at the end of his current term in June and resign as a member of the International Olympic Committee amid bribery allegations related to Tokyo's successful bid for the 2020 Games.

The development is unlikely to affect the actual preparations for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, with less than 500 days to go. But it is the latest disappointment for the country that has seen a series of controversies over the event regarding costs and the official emblem since being awarded the hosting rights in 2013.

While the 71-year-old, who has been in the JOC's top post since 2001, has denied the allegations, he declared at a JOC executive board meeting the same day that he intends to retire on June 27 without seeking re-election and apologized for the turmoil.

"It is most appropriate to leave the JOC to younger leaders as we await the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, and have them open up a new era," Takeda, a great-grandson of Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), told reporters.

He also said, "I have not committed any wrongdoing. I will strive to prove my innocence."

Former Olympic judo gold medalist Yasuhiro Yamashita, a 61-year-old senior executive board member of the JOC, is seen as a potential successor to Takeda.

"We need to accelerate preparations. We want the JOC to structure the organization in the wake of (Mr. Takeda's) announcement to retire," Yoshitaka Sakurada, the minister in charge of the Olympics, told reporters.

(Takeda speaks to reporters in Tokyo after announcing his decision to resign at the end of his current term in June.)

Takeda, a retired equestrian who competed in the Olympics in the 1970s, was president of the Tokyo 2020 bid committee from 2011 to 2014. He has been a member of the IOC since 2012.

He was initially expected to be re-elected JOC president when his 10th term ends in June, with the body granting him an age limit exemption beyond the 70-year-old threshold. But pressure for Takeda to resign has been increasing since media reported in January that French authorities were investigating him over vote-buying allegations.

French investigators suspect that part of a 2.8 million Singapore dollar ($2 million) amount paid by the Tokyo Games' bid committee to Singaporean consultancy firm Black Tidings in 2013 went to Papa Massata Diack, a Senegalese man whose father was a powerful member of the IOC at the time.

Diack is also suspected of playing a role in the cover-up of Russia's state-sponsored doping program and alleged bribery in the bid process for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Tokyo lost to the Brazilian city in the race to host the 2016 Summer Games. The Japanese capital was awarded the 2020 Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2013, defeating Istanbul and Madrid.

Takeda said at a press conference in January that he is innocent and the payments to Black Tidings were "authorized following an appropriate procedure."

The alleged payment of funds was first reported in 2016, but a Japanese probe concluded later that year there was no illegality.

Preparations for the 2020 Games have been plagued by other controversies, including massive cost overruns for the main stadium that led to a scaled-down redesign as well as accusations of plagiarism against the designer of the initial logo.

With Takeda denying his decision to step down is related to the bribery accusations, the JOC is considering offering him the post of honorary president following his retirement.

Takeda's father, Tsuneyoshi Takeda, whose family was formerly recognized as an imperial branch, also led the JOC and was a member of the IOC.