Winter Olympics 2022: Peng Shuai will attend a number of occasions in Beijing, says IOC amid considerations over well-being

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai met with International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach and can attend a number of occasions at Winter Olympics 2022 over the course of the following few days, the iOC stated in an announcement on Monday, February 7 whilst considerations over her well-being are dominating headlines.

The IOC stated Peng additionally attended the China-Norway Olympic curling match with IOC member Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe and that the Chinese tennis participant has expressed her curiosity to journey to Europe as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions ease out.The well-being of Peng, a three-time Olympian, turned a matter of world concern when she appeared to allege on social media {that a} former Chinese vice premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her previously.”The IOC President had a face-to-face meeting with Peng Shuai. He was joined by the former Chair of the Athletes’ Commission and IOC member Kirsty Coventry. The meeting took place on Saturday over dinner at the Olympic Club in Beijing,” the IOC stated in an announcement.”Peng Shuai informed the President that she would attend several events at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 over the coming days.”Later that night, she and Kirsty Coventry attended the combined curling match between China and Norway.”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.”In this context, she additionally shared her intention to journey to Europe when the COVID-19 pandemic is over, and the IOC President invited her to Lausanne to go to the IOC and The Olympic Museum, to proceed the dialog on their Olympic experiences. Peng Shuai accepted this invitation.”In her now-deleted post on China’s Twitter-like Weibo, Peng had written “why did you are taking me to your own home and power me into having relations with you?”, though she also described the relationship with Zhang as an on-off one that was also consensual. The post and her following absence from social media and public appearances led to concerns and the Women’s Tennis Association also suspended tournaments in China.Discussion of the scandal has been heavily censored in China’s tightly controlled cyberspace and searches for Peng’s name on Weibo continue to show no recent search results.Peng has not updated her Weibo account since the post was removed.PENG SHUAI REITERATES STAND ON MAKING ALLEGATIONSPeng told French paper L’Equipe during an interview earlier this week that her social media post had caused a “large misunderstanding”, repeating comments reported by a Singapore media outlet in December, and that she did not want “any additional media hype” about it.”I’d wish to say that emotions, sports activities and politics are three very distinct issues. My lovelife issues, my private life should not be mingled with sports activities and politics,” she was quoted as saying.”And sports activities should not be politicised as a result of when that occurs, more often than not it means turning one’s again on the Olympic spirit and it goes towards the need of the sporting world and the athletes.”The interview was conducted in Chinese and translated into English by a Chinese Olympic official during the interview, as well as an interpreter based in Paris, said the paper.Questions were submitted in advance, and the paper agreed to publish Peng’s responses without commentary, it said.Peng, pictured wearing a red tracksuit top with the characters for China on it, also sought to allay fears over her safety, saying her life since November had been “nothing particular”. She denied she had “disappeared” after the furore when she was not seen in public for weeks.