The International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has promised to support tennis player Peng Shuai if she calls for an investigation into her sexual harassment allegations.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Bach also revealed that Peng would enter the closed-loop system at the Games – which requires a series of negative PCR tests – for a face-to-face meeting with him in the coming days.
“We will have the meeting,” said Bach. “I am very happy and very grateful to Peng Shuai. She will enter the closed loop to have the meeting that she also wants. Once the Covid procedures have finished we will have that meeting.”
Concerns have persisted for Peng ever since the former women’s No 1 doubles player alleged that a former Chinese vice premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her in the past. After that post, she was absent from public view for nearly three weeks.
The IOC then set up a call with Peng to establish she was safe. Later in December she then claimed that she had never accused anyone of sexually assaulting her, adding that a social media post she had made had been misunderstood. Zhang has not commented on the matter.
Bach said that a face-to-face meeting was a logical next step to establish whether what Peng was saying via a teleconference was repeated in real life. He added: “It’s not only a sign of respect but a necessity to respect her and listen to her and how she sees the situation, how she wants to live her life.”
“We are step by step trying to find out if she wants to have the inquiry,” he said. “Of course we would also support her in this, but it must be her decision. It’s her life, it’s her allegations.
“We have heard the allegations, we have heard the withdrawal. We will have this personal meeting and continue this conversation. And then we will know better also about her physical integrity, her mental state, when we can finally meet in person.”
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Many believe that Peng is being restricted by the Chinese government and is unable to speak freely. However, Bach said he didn’t believe that was the case.
“We know from her explanations during the video conferences that she is living here in Beijing,” he said. “She is reporting that she can move freely, that she is spending time with her family and friends, And now we will be able to do the next step in a personal meeting to convince us in person of her well being and her state of mind.”