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Chinese tennis champion Peng Shuai has denied accusing anyone of sexual assault, in an interview published Sunday night with the French sports newspaper L’Équipe.
Peng sparked international concern in November last year after briefly disappearing shortly after she alleged on social media that a former Chinese Communist Party senior official, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her in the past. The post was later deleted.
Speaking during the Beijing Winter Olympics in an hotel used by the Chinese Olympics Committee, Peng told the French newspaper: “I never said anyone sexually assaulted me.” Peng also told L’Équipe that she “never disappeared” and that she erased her post because she “wanted to.”
L’Équipe said that questions were submitted in advance, and the paper agreed to publish Peng’s answers without commentary. The interview was conducted in Chinese and translated into English by a Chinese Olympic official, according to L’Équipe.
These remarks echo similar comments Peng made in December to Singapore’s outlet Lianhe Zaobao that there were “misunderstandings” around her post.
On Saturday, Peng Shuai met with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach over dinner, the IOC said in a statement. The statement did not refer to her interview or to the alleged sexual assault, but raised the possibility of Peng traveling to Europe “when the COVID-19 pandemic is over.”
Asked whether Peng was speaking freely, the International Olympic Committee’s spokesperson referred to the IOC as purely a sporting organization. “I don’t think it’s up to us to be able to judge, just as it’s not for you to judge, in one way or another, her position,” he said.
Source: Politico
