The 39-year-old, winner of the gold medal at Athens 2004, will act as a liaison between the International Federations and athletes and the Organising Committee.

His appointment is due to be confirmed later this month, The Japan Times reported. 

Murofushi, who also won a bronze medal at London 2012, is already a member of the Tokyo 2020 Executive Board. 

At London 2012 the role was carried out by Debbie Jevans, a former British junior tennis champion, while at Rio 2016 it is filled by Agberto Guimarães, the 1983 Pan American 800 and 1500 metres gold medallist. 

The last time Japan hosted the Olympic Games - the Winter edition - at Nagano in 1998 the director of sport was Tsunekazu Takeda, who had represented the country in show jumping at Munich 1972 and Montreal 1976. 

He is now President of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) and led Tokyo's successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, the first time the Games will have been staged there since 1964. 

Takeda is now a leading member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and chairman of its influential Marketing Commission.

Koji Murofushi is already a member of the Tokyo 2020 Executive Board ©The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images

Murofushi's own attempt to join the IOC ended in controversy when, at elections held during London 2012, he polled enough votes to join the Athletes' Commission only for the result to be annulled because he broke strict campaign rules.

An appeal to the Court of the Arbitration for Sport (CAS) failed to overturn the IOC's decision. 

They ruled that he had been the victim of "an overzealous" JOC.

Murofushi is, nevertheless, seen by Tokyo 2020 as the ideal candidate for the role because, not only is he the only Japanese man to have won an Olympic gold medal in athletics since Berlin 1936, but he is also fluent in English.

He also speaks Hungarian as his mother Serafina Moritz is originally from the Hungarian minority in Romania.

Murofushi is currently associate professor in the faculty of sports science at Chyukyo University in Nagoya.

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