The Peng Shuai situation rumbles on as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has promised to support the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai when they meet at the Beijing Winter Olympics, following her sexual assault allegations.
In November 2021, Peng accused the former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault on the Chinese social media site Weibo, but after she mysteriously disappeared and then reappeared, the 36-year-old denied she’d ever made those accusations.
The IOC President, Thomas Bach, had a video call with the tennis player at the end of November but a lot of people, including the WTA who suspended all tournaments in China as a result of the situation, weren’t satisfied that she was safe, well and in control of her actions.
It was thought that the Chinese Communist Party government was controlling what Peng could do and say, but Bach - who is due to meet up with her at the Winter Games despite being warned against it - doesn’t believe this is the case.
“We will have the meeting, I am very happy and very grateful to Peng Shuai, she will enter the closed loop to have the meeting that she also wants,” Bach said at a press conference in Beijing.
“We have heard the allegations, we have heard the withdrawal, we will have this personal meeting and continue this conversation and then we will know better also about her physical integrity, her mental state, when we can finally meet in person.
“We know from her explanations during the video conferences that she is living here in Beijing, she is reporting that she can move freely, that she is spending time with her family and friends, and now we will be able to do the next step in a personal meeting to convince us in person of her well being and her state of mind.”
Words by Lucy Roberts for Female First, who you can follow on Twitter, @Lucy_Roberts_72.
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