IOC says it held second call with Peng Shuai

The International Olympic Committee said Thursday that it had held a second call with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, trying anew to deflect criticism of its light-touch approach to China only months before the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.

“We share the same concern as many other people and organisations about the well-being and safety of Peng Shuai,” the IOC statement said. “This is why, just yesterday, an IOC team held another video call with her. We have offered her wide-ranging support, will stay in regular touch with her, and have already agreed on a personal meeting in January.”

As with an earlier call with Peng on Nov. 21, the IOC did not release video or a transcript of the call, nor did it say how Wednesday’s call was arranged or specify who took part. The previous call included the IOC’s president, Thomas Bach, but also an IOC member from China.

Also read: China says opposes politicisation of sports after WTA pulls out

Peng, 35, disappeared from public view more than a month ago after she accused Zhang Gaoli, a former vice premier of China, of sexual assault. Her disappearance, China’s efforts to censor any mention of her allegations and its sometimes clumsy efforts to suggest she had retracted her claims have only intensified concerns about her safety with tennis officials, fellow athletes and human rights groups.

The IOC statement, like its earlier statements on Peng, made no mention of her sexual assault claims, referring only to “the difficult situation she is in.”

The latest video call, which the IOC said took place Wednesday, came on the same day the WTA Tour, the women’s professional tennis tour, announced it would suspend all of its events in China, including Hong Kong, until the Chinese government took several measures. It called for the government to stop censoring Peng, a Grand Slam doubles champion and three-time Olympian; to allow her to speak and travel freely; and to “investigate the allegation of sexual assault in a full, fair and transparent manner.”

The tennis tour’s announcement prompted China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reiterate that China was “opposed to the politicisation of sports.” An editorial in Global Times, a popular tabloid controlled by the ruling Communist Party, linked the decision to “forces in the West” who were leading calls for a boycott of the Beijing Games. The newspaper accused tennis officials of “betraying the Olympic spirit.”