Peng Shuai, A Chinese Tennis Player, Claims That A Government Official Sexually Assaulted Her
In a carefully-managed interview aired this week to allay global fears about her personal safety in China, Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai took back her sexual assault charges against a top Chinese official and announced her retirement from competitive tennis.
In a conversation sponsored by the Chinese Olympic Committee, she told French sports publication L'Equipe, "I never alleged anyone sexually attacked me." "Sports and politics should not be used to bring up my personal life."
Peng's first sit-down interview since accusing retired Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual abuse following a years-long on-again, off-again romantic engagement last November. The charges have elicited no public response from Zhang.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced shortly after L'Equipe's interview that its president, Thomas Bach, had supper with the Chinese tennis player in Beijing on Saturday, where they are both attending the Winter Olympic Games.
The IOC stated in a statement that Bach and Peng were joined for dinner by Kirsti Coventry, a Zimbabwean IOC member, and that the two women then attended a mixed curling event between China and Norway. Peng stated in her L'Equipe interview and in the IOC statement that she planned to travel to Europe "when the Covid-19 pandemic is done" at an unspecified time.
The IOC statement, however, made no mention of the sexual assault claims that prompted the dinner or whether she has the ability to move, speak, live in China.