The head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee said Friday he "hated" the distinctive design of the new National Stadium, hours before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced he was scrapping those blueprints and starting over from scratch.

"It's better to be redesigned. I didn't like that style from the beginning," Yoshiro Mori, a former prime minister, said of the design by London-based architect Zaha Hadid. He was referring to the characteristic structure of the two gigantic arches supporting the curved roof.

"Honestly, I didn't like the design. It looks like a raw oyster," he added.