The international Olympic Committee has been warned against meeting missing tennis star Peng Shuai during the 2022 Winter Olympics, as concerns grow again over the players welfare and whereabouts.
Peng went missing in November last year after she made an allegation of sexual assault towards former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli on Chinese social media site Weibo.
IOC President Thomas Bach was due to meet with Peng, but Julie Ann Rivers-Cochran, executive director of The Army of Survivors which was set up after the Larry Nasser sexual abuse scandal in US Gymnastics, has warned that this would be an “inappropriate move.”
“Not only is it a terrible idea, it is also a dangerous idea – it is a highly inappropriate move that fails to consider the effects of trauma and will ultimately be retraumatising,” Rivers-Cochran said.
“To think that Peng Shuai has the right or the ability to speak freely to consent to this request without pressure is misguided at best, I think it is a poor move from the IOC as it perpetuates their inaction over her initial disclosure.”
