The Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai met with the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, on Saturday during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, said the athlete in an interview with the sports newspaper L’Equipe, in which she denied having suffered sexual assault.
At a “dinner” held on “Saturday, We have been able to talk and exchange in a pleasant way”said the tennis player in the interview published on Monday.
“He asked me if I was thinking of going back to the competition, what my projects were, what I anticipate, etcetera”, explained Peng in the interview with two journalists from L’Equipe in a hotel inside the Beijing Olympic bubble.
Dressed in red and black sportswear, Peng Shuai, 36, “appeared in good shape”, according to the journalists who conducted the interview, the first with an independent international media outlet since November.
She took the opportunity to say that “it never disappeared”, after spending weeks without appearing in public after denouncing last November on a social network that he had a forced sexual relationship for years with a Chinese leader, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.
“Just a lot of people like my friends and people from the IOC sent me messages and it was impossible for me to reply to so many messages. I am still in close contact with my close friends, I have spoken with themresponded to their messages, and also with the WTA,” she added.
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has maintained a firm position to demand explanations from China about Peng’s situation after his complaint.
Peng’s complaint was deleted from the Chinese social network Weiboand the tennis player disappeared from the public eye for weeks, raising fears about her situation, until she appeared in a videoconference conversation with Thomas Bach on November 21.
On Thursday, two days before Bach and Peng’s meeting, the IOC said it would “support” the tennis player if she decides to demand the opening of an investigation into the allegation of a forced sexual relationship.
“If she wants an investigation (on the complaint) it is certain that we will support her, but it has to be their decision, that is the way, that is their accusations,” Bach told a news conference on the eve of the opening of the Beijing Games.
Peng He denied in the interview that he had denounced a “sexual assault”.
“Sexual assault? I have never said that someone has made me suffer a sexual assault,” he insisted.
When asked why the complaint message was deleted, she replied “because I wanted it that way.”
– “Nothing special” –
“There was a big misunderstanding in the outside world after this publication,” he said during the interview in the bubble at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
“I don’t want it to get distorted anymore.That’s the meaning of this post. And I don’t want any more media hype about it,” he added.
“My life has been as it should be: nothing special”commented the tennis player when asked about her life after November.
“First I want people to really understand who I am: I am a normal girl, a perfectly ordinary tennis player. Sometimes I am serene, sometimes happy, sometimes sad. I can feel very stressed or under a lot of pressure (…) All the feelings and reactions that women have, I feel them too, “she expressed.
Peng was accompanied by the chief of staff of the Chinese Olympic CommitteeWang Kan, during the interview.
The IOC confirmed in a statement that Bach and former IOC swimmer Kirsty Coventry met with Pengand pointed out that the tennis player would attend several events of the Beijing Games.
“All three agreed that any communication about the content of the meeting would be at his (Peng’s) discretion,” according to the statement.
The Olympic body indicated that the IOC reiterated the invitation to visit its Olympic headquarters in Switzerland.
At the interview, the tennis player announced the end of her professional career, Except maybe “on a team of veterans,” she said with a laugh.
“Tennis completely changed my life, it gave me joy, challenges and much more (…) Even if I don’t participate in professional competitions anymore, I will always be a tennis player,” she said.
After the complaint, the player only appeared in some videos in which he attended sporting events, although it did not allay fears about his full freedom of movement.
The Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai met with the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, on Saturday during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, said the athlete in an interview with the sports newspaper L’Equipe, in which she denied having suffered sexual assault.
At a “dinner” held on “Saturday, We have been able to talk and exchange in a pleasant way”said the tennis player in the interview published on Monday.
“He asked me if I was thinking of going back to the competition, what my projects were, what I anticipate, etcetera”, explained Peng in the interview with two journalists from L’Equipe in a hotel inside the Beijing Olympic bubble.
Dressed in red and black sportswear, Peng Shuai, 36, “appeared in good shape”, according to the journalists who conducted the interview, the first with an independent international media outlet since November.
She took the opportunity to say that “it never disappeared”, after spending weeks without appearing in public after denouncing last November on a social network that he had a forced sexual relationship for years with a Chinese leader, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.
“Just a lot of people like my friends and people from the IOC sent me messages and it was impossible for me to reply to so many messages. I am still in close contact with my close friends, I have spoken with themresponded to their messages, and also with the WTA,” she added.
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has maintained a firm position to demand explanations from China about Peng’s situation after his complaint.
Peng’s complaint was deleted from the Chinese social network Weiboand the tennis player disappeared from the public eye for weeks, raising fears about her situation, until she appeared in a videoconference conversation with Thomas Bach on November 21.
On Thursday, two days before Bach and Peng’s meeting, the IOC said it would “support” the tennis player if she decides to demand the opening of an investigation into the allegation of a forced sexual relationship.
“If she wants an investigation (on the complaint) it is certain that we will support her, but it has to be their decision, that is the way, that is their accusations,” Bach told a news conference on the eve of the opening of the Beijing Games.
Peng He denied in the interview that he had denounced a “sexual assault”.
“Sexual assault? I have never said that someone has made me suffer a sexual assault,” he insisted.
When asked why the complaint message was deleted, she replied “because I wanted it that way.”
– “Nothing special” –
“There was a big misunderstanding in the outside world after this publication,” he said during the interview in the bubble at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
“I don’t want it to get distorted anymore.That’s the meaning of this post. And I don’t want any more media hype about it,” he added.
“My life has been as it should be: nothing special”commented the tennis player when asked about her life after November.
“First I want people to really understand who I am: I am a normal girl, a perfectly ordinary tennis player. Sometimes I am serene, sometimes happy, sometimes sad. I can feel very stressed or under a lot of pressure (…) All the feelings and reactions that women have, I feel them too, “she expressed.
Peng was accompanied by the chief of staff of the Chinese Olympic CommitteeWang Kan, during the interview.
The IOC confirmed in a statement that Bach and former IOC swimmer Kirsty Coventry met with Pengand pointed out that the tennis player would attend several events of the Beijing Games.
“All three agreed that any communication about the content of the meeting would be at his (Peng’s) discretion,” according to the statement.
The Olympic body indicated that the IOC reiterated the invitation to visit its Olympic headquarters in Switzerland.
At the interview, the tennis player announced the end of her professional career, Except maybe “on a team of veterans,” she said with a laugh.
“Tennis completely changed my life, it gave me joy, challenges and much more (…) Even if I don’t participate in professional competitions anymore, I will always be a tennis player,” she said.
After the complaint, the player only appeared in some videos in which he attended sporting events, although it did not allay fears about his full freedom of movement.
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