The 76-year-old, who has offered his resignation, admitted to forcibly hugging and attempting to kiss the anonymous judoka in a Tokyo subway elevator in 2011, but claimed he cannot remember the incident clearly as he was under the influence of alcohol at the time.

Noriko Mizoguchi, winner of the women's -52kg silver medal in the sport at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, revealed the incident at a symposium aimed at highlighting abuse in sport in Tokyo.

Mizgouchi also claimed the unnamed athlete, who is in her 30's, referred the matter to a AJJF executive but no action was taken.

"It would not be surprising to see this end up as a criminal case," she said.

The AJJF has said it will be investigating the allegations.

Japanese national women's coach Ryuji Sonoda was forced to step down after admitting to abusing female judokas


According to the Japan Times, the athlete contacted Mizoguchi earlier this month and has consulted with a lawyer, who was believed to be seeking Fukuda's resignation.

The AJJF was on the receiving end of the first time the JOC has withheld a grant to a sport's governing body in March following the revelations of abuse from coaches on 15 female judokas in the lead-up to London 2012.

Japanese national women's coach Ryuji Sonoda was forced to step down after admitting allegations that he beat athletes with a bamboo sword were "more or less true".

Judo in the country of its birth also had its name dragged through the mud when Japan's double-Olympic judo champion Masato Uchishiba was jailed for five years in February for raping a teenage member of a judo club that he was coaching while she was sleeping.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2013: Judo punished by Japanese Olympic Committee with funding cut after abuse scandal
March 2013: Panel investigating Japan judo scandal make recommendations to AJJF
March 2013: Japanese acting head women's judo coach offers to step down in wake of abuse scandal
February 2013: Japanese women's coaches suspended by International Judo Federation after scandal
February 2013: Judo abuse scandal is "gravest crisis in Japan's sporting history" says Sports Minister