Tennis Star Peng Shuai Denies Sexual Assault—With Handler by Her Side
The Chinese tennis star gave an interview to a French newspaper that is unlikely to quell concern for her welfare.
Mark Kolbe/Getty
A secret meeting with International Olympic Committee members over the weekend will do nothing to alleviate the mystery of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s well-being.
The IOC, which has been heavily criticized for its seeming blindness to China’s human-rights abuses, and its apparent censuring of Peng, released as statement without saying whether Peng was accompanied by her usual Chinese government handlers, though IOC Director of Communications Mark Adams on Monday said the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) were not informed of the meeting.
“During the dinner, the three spoke about their common experience as athletes at the Olympic Games, and Peng Shuai spoke of her disappointment at not being able to qualify for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020,” the IOC statement said, without mentioning why they met.
The two-time Olympian had earlier given an interview—with a government official at her side—denying she was sexually assaulted by a powerful politician.
“I would like to know: Why such concern?” the 36-year-old athlete said of worries that she was essentially forced from public view after posting an accusation on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
Peng’s comments to French newspaper L’Equipe are unlikely to quell concern that she is not free to speak her mind. A member of China’s Olympic committee was with the doubles champion as she spoke from a hotel room in Beijing.
Fears over Peng’s welfare have swirled since her November post about a former Chinese vice premier. The World Tennis Association suspended tournaments in China, saying Peng was being censored.
“That afternoon, I was very afraid. I didn’t expect it to be like this,” she wrote in the post. “I didn’t agree to have sex with you and kept crying that afternoon.”
In the interview with L’Equipe, Peng said her post had been misinterpreted.
“I never said anyone had sexually assaulted me in any way,” she said, claiming that she—and not the government—had deleted the Weibo message.
She also declared that too big a deal was being made of her withdrawal from public view.
Spectators wearing “Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts at the Australian Open.
William West/AFP via Getty
“I never disappeared. It’s just that a lot of people, like my friends, including from the IOC, messaged me, and it was quite impossible to reply to so many messages,” she said, according to a translation by the Sydney Morning Herald.
“But with my close friends, I always remained in close contact. I discussed with them, answered their emails, I also discussed with the WTA. But, at the end of the year, their website’s communication computer was changed and many players had difficulty logging in at that time.
“But we always kept in touch with colleagues. That’s why I don’t know why the information that I had disappeared spread.”
Peng reportedly met this weekend with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.
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