Tennis star Peng Shuai assures world she is safe via video meeting with Olympic chief
- Women’s Tennis Association is not satisfied with IOC meeting or images of Peng shared in recent days and seeks an investigation into her claims
- It comes weeks before Beijing hosts the 2022 Winter Olympics, an event hit by calls for boycott even before the athlete disappeared from the public eye
A photo of the 30-minute video call released by the IOC shows a smiling Peng flanked by stuffed animals beaming into a room where IOC president Thomas Bach is seated.
The video marks the first direct contact three-time Olympian Peng has had with an international sports organisation since her disappearance from the public eye nearly three weeks ago, after a post on her Weibo social media account on November 2 accused a retired, high-level government official of coercing her into sex.
Peng thanked the IOC for its concern about her well-being and said she was “safe and well”, living at her home in Beijing, but that she would like to have her privacy respected at this time, according to an IOC statement about the call.
“That is why she prefers to spend her time with friends and family right now,” the IOC said, citing Peng.
Two women – Finnish ice hockey Olympic medallist Emma Terho, now chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, and IOC member in China Li Lingwei, a former badminton world champion and former top tennis official in China, who is also a representative to the lawmaking National People’s Congress – were also on the call.
“I was relieved to see that Peng Shuai was doing fine, which was our main concern. She appeared to be relaxed. I offered her our support and to stay in touch at any time of her convenience, which she obviously appreciated,” Terho said in the IOC press release.
But the Women’s Tennis Association, which has become a staunch advocate for Peng’s safety and justice, was not satisfied with the IOC meeting or other images of Peng that appeared on social media over the weekend, according to an emailed statement attributed to a WTA spokeswoman on Monday.
“It was good to see Peng Shuai in recent videos, but they don’t alleviate or address the WTA’s concern about her well-being and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion,” Reuters quoted the spokeswoman as saying. Images of Peng, including her appearance at a tennis tournament on Sunday, were shared by the tournament organisers and state media reporters over the weekend.
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As for the IOC meeting, “this video does not change our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation, without censorship, into her allegation of sexual assault, which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern”, the WTA spokeswoman said.
In a letter to Qin Gang, the Chinese ambassador to the US, Simon requested both “independent and verifiable confirmation” that Peng was safe, either via her being allowed to travel overseas or to speak live via teleconference to Simon with no one else present, unless by her permission.
He also said the sexual assault allegation should be investigated “fairly, fully, transparently and without censorship”.
According to the WTA, the senior official at the centre of the sexual assault allegation is former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli. Neither Zhang nor the Chinese government have commented on the allegation.
All mention of the allegations were swiftly scrubbed from the Chinese internet, while Peng’s own Weibo account became unsearchable on the popular platform.
Human rights advocate Sophie Richardson said Peng’s comments about her welfare, as described in the IOC statement, needed to be viewed within the context of a “coercive environment” in China.
Richardson, who is China director of the New York-based non-profit Human Rights Watch, also questioned the participation of the IOC in the video call.
“What we have at play here is what appears to be the most prominent Olympic official in the world participating in a Chinese government propaganda exercise that among other things wipes away or erases those allegations of sexual assault,” Richardson said.
“[Peng] needs to be able to speak in a manner that is clearly of her own volition directly to entities that are not affiliated either with the Chinese state or the IOC for that matter.”
International pressure on China to release information about Peng’s welfare and freedom has been mounting in recent days as high-profile athletes and tennis associations aired concerns, often under the viral hashtag #WhereisPengShuai.
The IOC had declined to comment in recent days about Peng’s situation, instead saying it favoured “quiet diplomacy”, according to multiple reports on Friday.
However IOC member Dick Pound told Reuters on Friday it was possible the situation could “spin out of control” if not resolved in a “sensible way very soon”.
“Whether that escalates to a cessation of the Olympic Games, I doubt it. But you never know,” Pound was quoted as saying.
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The IOC also said that Peng and Bach, along with Terho and Li, had agreed to meet for dinner when Bach arrived in Beijing in January for the Games.
Before that appearance, prominent figures in China’s state media shared images on Twitter on Friday and Saturday purporting to show Peng’s current whereabouts, even though the tennis star herself was not publicly posting.
