This is the message that Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai spoke about the assertion of venereal assault against a former high-ranking member of the ruling Communist Party of China in a controlled interview in Beijing on Monday. His answers-delivered in front of a Chinese Olympic official-left unanswered questions about his well-being and what exactly happened.
The interview with the French sports newspaper L ‘Equipe and the announcement that the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, met Peng for dinner at the weekend seemed to be aimed at dispelling the ongoing international concerns about the three-time Olympic champion and former number 1 tennis player. frights for Peng’s safety browbeat to overshadow the ongoing Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Peng told the team that these concerns were the result of “a big misunderstanding”. “But the format of the interview did not seem to allow a sustained follow-up, with questions submitted in advance and a person in power of the Chinese Olympic Committee who participated in the discussion and translated Peng’s comments from Chinese.
Much of the hour-long interview, which took place at a hotel in Beijing on Sunday and was organized by the Chinese Olympic Committee with the support of the IOC, focused on Peng’s career as a player. At the age of 36 and after several operations on her knee, Peng said that she could not imagine a return to professional tennis at the county level. She has not played on the women’s circuit since February.
The newspaper published his comments verbatim-which, in his opinion, was another prerequisite for the interview – in the form of questions and answers. Photos of Peng during the interview showed her in a red top with “China” in Chinese characters on the front.
The team interviewed Peng about the venereal assault assertion that sparked the controversy in November. The assertion were quickly deleted from his verified account on a leading Chinese social media platform, Weibo. She then gave the public’s gaze for a while. This led to ” where is Peng Shuai?”Questions are being asked online and by players and fans outside of China, in part because the country has a history of disappearances of people who go against its leaders.
In his lengthy post, Peng wrote that Zhang Gaoli, former Deputy Premier and member of the All-Powerful Standing Committee of the Politburo of the ruling Communist Party of China, forced her to have gender despite repeated denials. Her message also said that they had gender once seven years ago, and that she developed romantic feelings for him afterwards. Zhang has not commented on the power.
“Originally, I buried all this in my heart,” she wrote. “Why do you want to meet me, take me to you and force you to have gender?”
The interview with L’Equipe was his first discussion with non-Chinese media since the indictment. She returned to the original post.
“A venereal crime? I never said that anyone forced me to commit venereal assault,” the newspaper said.
“This position has led to a great misunderstanding on the part of the outside world,” she said. “My wish is that the meaning of this post is no longer biased.”
When asked by the team why the message disappeared from Peng’s account, she said : “I deleted it.”
“Why ? Because I wanted to,” she added.
The obvious follow-up question as to why you posted in the first place was not asked.
The IOC also worked on Monday to defuse the situation. He said Bach had dinner with Peng on Saturday, a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the Winter Olympics. The IOC said that Peng had also attended the China-Norway Olympic Curling Match with IOC member Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams did not want to say at his daily Olympic press conference whether the IOC believes that Peng speaks freely or is under duress
“We are a sports organization, and our task is to keep in touch with her and, as we have explained in the past, to conduct personal and silent diplomacy, to keep in touch with her, as we have done,” he said. “I don’t think it’s up to us to judge one way or another, just as it’s not up to you to judge either.”
He said that the IOC did not decide on the need for an investigation of his original claims.
“I think we can say that we are doing everything we can to make sure that this situation runs smoothly,” he said.
In an interview with L’Equipe, Peng did not directly answer a question about whether there had been problems with the Chinese authorities since the post. Instead, she responded with a response that reflected the Chinese government’s oft-expressed views on sports and politics.
“I had to say first that emotions, sports and politics are three clearly different things,” the newspaper said. “My romantic problems, my personal life, must not be mixed with sports and politics.”
When asked what her life has been like since it was published in November, she replied: “It’s the way it should be: nothing special.”
Peng thanked the other players who expressed concerns about him. They included Serena Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam winner, who tweeted “we don’t need to be silent” in November and called for an investigation.
But Peng also expressed his perplexity.
“I want to know: why so much concern?”she asked. “I never disappeared. It’s just that many people, like my friends and among them those of the IOC, sent me messages, and it was completely impossible to respond to so many messages.”
The professional women’s tennis circuit has suspended all WTA tournaments in China due to concerns over Peng’s safety. Peng told the team that a WTA mental health counseling center had sent him emails and a text message.
“That was very not known to me,” she said. “Why do I need psychological help or something like that?”