Journalists from the prestigious sports daily L’Équipe spoke to Pcheng Shui during an hour-long meeting at a Beijing hotel organized by the China Olympic Committee.
They had to provide questions in advance, and a man who translated the tennis player’s statements from Chinese took part in the interview.
Today, the International Olympic Committee also announced that Pcheng Shui had met with IOC President Thomas Bach for dinner on Saturday and attended a China-Norway curling match with IOC member Kirsty Coventry.
The two-time Olympic doubles champion Pcheng Shui on Social Networks Weibo accused former influential official Chang Kao-lima of sexual assault in early November.
After that, she disappeared from public life for a while, which raised concerns in the world about her safety and freedom of speech. The interview for L’Équipe was her first foreign media interview since the scandal broke out.
“Sexual assault? I never said anyone attacked me, “Pcheng Shui told the French newspaper.
“It simply came to our notice then. I would like the message to be no longer distorted, ”added the 36-year-old tennis player.
Asked by L’Équipe why the post disappeared from her account soon after it was published, Pcheng Shui simply replied: “I deleted it. Why? Because I wanted to, ”she said without elaborating further.
In the interview, Pcheng Shui also avoided direct answers to the question of whether she had had problems with the Chinese authorities since the publication of the paper.
“I would like to say that feelings, sports and politics are three completely different things. My emotional problems, my private life, should not be mixed with sports and politics, “said the tennis player. When asked what her life has been like since November, she replied: “As it should be. Nothing out of the ordinary. ”
Pcheng Shui denied sexual assault in a video last Christmas. She was also in contact with the IOC several times, but international concerns about her safety did not dispel it.
Due to this, the women’s tennis organization WTA has suspended this year’s tournaments in China.
