IOC president Bach says Peng Shuai can move freely in China

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FILE - China's Peng Shuai serves to Japan's Nao Hibino during their first round singles match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 21, 2020. The controversy surrounding Chinese tennis star Peng Shuais accusations of sexual assault against a former top politician continues to cast a shadow of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games that officially begin on Friday, Feb. 4. 2022. Peng disappeared from public view in November, 2021, after accusing former Communist Party official Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill, File)

BEIJING ā€“ The president of the International Olympic Committee sought to play down concerns about the safety of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai on Thursday while also saying he planned to go ahead with their long-promised dinner during the Beijing Games.

Peng last year accused a former senior Chinese Community Party official of sexual assault. IOC president Thomas Bach is among the few people outside China to have spoken with Peng in the past three months in calls by video link with IOC staff.

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Those calls frustrated tennis leaders and human rights activists who wanted footage or transcripts that could verify Pengā€™s well-being. They claimed the IOC was covering up for the Olympic host nation.

ā€œWe know from her explanations during the video conferences that she is living here in Beijing,ā€ Bach said, ā€œthat she can move freely, that sheā€™s spending time with her family and friends.ā€

ā€œWe will know better about her physical integrity and about her mental state when we can finally meet in person,ā€ the International Olympic Committee president said, adding her physical safety was ā€œmaybe the most important human right.ā€

The most recent call between Peng and IOC staff was held this week, Bach said.

No details about the dinner during the Olympics ā€” inside the bubble that separates accredited personnel from the Chinese public ā€” have been given.

The two-time Grand Slam doubles champion used a social media post to accuse a former member of Chinaā€™s ruling Standing Committee, Zhang Gaoli, of sexual assault several years earlier. The post was removed quickly and details of the allegation were erased from the internet in China.

Peng then appeared to have vanished from public view, but soon made a brief appearance at a youth tennis event. She also did an interview with a Chinese-language daily from Singapore that raised questions about its authenticity.

On social media, the hashtag WhereIsPengShuai has trended and won support from tennis greats Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova and Roger Federer.

The campaign was a talking point during last monthā€™s Australian Open with dozens of fans wearing the slogan on T-shirts.

The IOC president said if Peng wants an official Chinese investigation into her allegations ā€œwe would also support her in this, but it must be her decision.ā€

ā€œItā€™s a necessity to respect her,ā€ Bach said, ā€œto listen to her and how she sees the situation, how she wants to live her life.ā€

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