Four-time Olympic gold medallist Kaori Icho, left, was harassed by Kazuhito Sakae, the Japan Wrestling Federation's development director, right, it has been alleged in a report ©Getty Images

A Japan Wrestling Federation (JWF) director has resigned after a third-party panel of lawyers determined he had harassed four-time Olympic champion Kaori Icho after she won her second gold medal at Beijing in 2008.

In its report, the panel acknowledged four complaints of harassment lodged against Kazuhito Sakae, development director of the JWF.

Tomiaki Fukuda, chairman of the JWF, apologised over the harassment.

The cases include one concerning a remark Sakae made to Icho when she joined a training session of wrestlers representing Japan. 

According to the report, Sakae told Icho, "How dare you wrestle in front of me."

The report also noted problems related to the selection of athletes for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou in China, in which Icho did not participate.

Japan Wrestling Federation development director Kazuhito Sakae started harassing Kaori Icho after she won her second Olympic gold medal at Beijing 2008, it has been claimed ©Getty Images
Japan Wrestling Federation development director Kazuhito Sakae started harassing Kaori Icho after she won her second Olympic gold medal at Beijing 2008, it has been claimed ©Getty Images

According to one of the complaints, submitted to a Japanese Government Cabinet Office Committee in January by a person close to the matter, Sakae began harassing Icho after she moved her training base to Tokyo from Aichi Prefecture against Sakae’s wishes, after winning consecutive Olympic gold medals at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

Sakae ordered Icho’s coach, Chikara Tanabe, to stop working with her when she went to Russia for the 2010 World Championships. 

When he refused, Sakae told him to quit if he could not follow orders, the complaint said.

The development director also allegedly harassed Icho by preventing her from using a Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department training facility shortly before the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where she became the first female athlete to win four consecutive Olympic titles in an individual event.

Japan's Spports Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference: "If the harassment complaints are true, I believe the Federation will swiftly take appropriate measures."