By Duncan Mackay at the Main Press Centre in Sochi 

Olympic silver and bronze medallist Yuko Arimori is to be part of a new panel set up by Japan to help strengthen its sports diplomacy ©Getty ImagesFebruary 12 - Japan today announced that it has set up a new panel of experts to try to help the country become more influential internationally in the build-up to Tokyo 2020 by strengthening its "sports diplomacy".


The ten-member panel, established by the Foreign Ministry, is headed by former top diplomat Kazuo Ogura but also includes Yuko Arimori, an Olympic marathon silver and bronze medallist.

Also named on the panel is Daichi Suzuki, the Seoul 1988 100 metres backstroke champion.

Senior officials from Tokyo 2020 have been facing growing international pressure here because its Organising Committee, led by former Japan Prime Minister Yoshirō Mori and former Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Toshiro Muto, is made up of former male politicians in their 60s and 70s and lacks female representatives or former athletes.

The damage the row has caused will probably be among the issues discussed by the new panel, which is due to hold its first meeting in Tokyo tomorrow. 

The Ministry hopes that the new panel will help come up with ideas of how Japan can use Tokyo 2020 to build new relationships with other nations through sport, just as London 2012 did with its highly praised International Inspiration programme.  

Ogura, 74, is one of Japan's most respected diplomats having served as the country's Ambassador to Vietnam, South Korea and France.

He was also President of the Japan Foundation, the country's principal agent for cultural relations between Japan and overseas nations, from 2003 through 2011.

Ogura was also involved in the Tokyo 2020 serving as secretary general of its Council, whose vice-chairman was Mori.

Kazuo Ogura, second from left in this picture, played a role in Tokyo's successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics ©Tokyo 2020Kazuo Ogura, second from left in this picture, played a role in Tokyo's successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics ©Tokyo 2020

Arimori is one of Japan's most popular former athletes, having finished second in the Olympic marathon at Barcelona 1992 and third at Atlanta 1996.

She was part of the Japanese  team that travelled to Buenos Aires last September for the International Olympic Committee Session where Tokyo were awarded the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics ahead of Istanbul and Madrid. 

Now 47, she is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund.

Suzuki, meanwhile, who is now 46, was last year appointed President of the Japan Swimming Federation.

He was also part of the Tokyo 2020 Executive Board who travelled to Buenos Aires and is a member of the Japanese Olympic Committee's  International Relations Commission.

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