Europe 1 with AFP 7:05 p.m., November 21, 2021
IOC President Thomas Bach spoke on a "thirty minute" video conference Sunday with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, who mysteriously reappeared in public at a tournament in Beijing on Sunday after missing for 19 days. "She is safe and sound and would like her privacy to be respected," added the IOC.
A reassuring exchange, apparently.
IOC President Thomas Bach spoke in a "thirty minute" video conference on Sunday with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, the Olympic body said in a statement.
The Olympic Committee clarified that she "had explained that she was safe and sound at her home in Beijing but that she would like her privacy to be respected", during the appeal, which also brought together the President of the Commission athletes Emma Terho, and Chinese Olympic Committee member Li Lingwei.
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The first direct exchange with officials located outside of China
This is a priori the first direct exchange between the player and officials located outside China since the affair broke. On Sunday morning, Peng Shuai, 35, former world number one in doubles and star in her country, appeared at a tennis tournament in Beijing. She had not been seen publicly since accusing Zhang Gaoli, a powerful ex-Communist Party official 40 years her senior, of coercing her into sex during a multi-year break-up relationship. .
His disappearance caused an international stir, and a mobilization of stars of world tennis like Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic on social networks.
The WTA for its part threatened to end lucrative contracts with China, and estimated by the voice of its president Steve Simon that "the video (of the tennis tournament in Beijing, editor's note) alone (was) not sufficient "to show that she was" free in her decisions and actions ".
I am devastated and shocked to hear about the news of my peer, Peng Shuai.
I hope she is safe and found as soon as possible.
This must be investigated and we must not stay silent.
Sending love to her and her family during this incredibly difficult time.
# whereispengshuaipic.twitter.com / GZG3zLTSC6
- Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) November 18, 2021
"She prefers to spend time with her friends and family"
The UK on Saturday urged China to provide "verifiable evidence" of the tennis player's "safety and whereabouts", while Paris on Sunday asked that she be able to "speak" freely.
The former champion told the IOC that she "prefers to spend time with friends and family now," according to the Olympic body.
“I was relieved to see that Peng Shuai is doing well, which was our biggest concern,” Emma Terho said in the statement.