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.
