Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai attends Big Air final with IOC president U.S. skier Nina O’Brien heading home after breaking leg
After the IOC confirmed that former pro tennis player Peng Shuai met with IOC president Thomas Bach on Saturday, she was spotted with him again Tuesday at the Big Air Shougang venue watching Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu win the gold medal.
Peng’s public appearances have been heavily scrutinized and orchestrated since she posted on Chinese social media and then quickly deleted an accusation that a former government official sexually assaulted her, sparking worldwide outrage. After going silent for three weeks as friends from the tennis tour and WTA officials tried to reach her, she re-emerged in a series of videos from state-controlled Chinese media sources.
She has since publicly called the entire situation a misunderstanding and denied that she accused anyone of sexual assault, including in an interview that was published Monday with French sports publication L’Equipe.
The interview was held under tightly controlled circumstances, with L’Equipe submitting questions in advance and getting answers in Chinese that were translated by an official on the country’s Olympic committee.
Since Peng’s public re-emergence, the IOC has publicized a series of conversations between her and Bach meant to reassure her safety. The New York Times was able to get access to Bach, who confirmed that he again spoke with Peng.
Later, she was seen sitting besides American freestyle skier Nick Goepper during the competition.
“I spotted her and we had the opportunity to talk,” Bach told the Times. “Now she has to go to quarantine, she told me, because she will leave now the closed loop. She said today.”
BEIJING — Nina O’Brien has a compound fracture of her left tibia and fibula and will be taken back to the United States for further treatment.
O’Brien had initial surgery at a hospital in Yanqing, near the Alpine ski venue, after a gruesome crash Monday afternoon in the second run of the giant slalom.
O’Brien crashed just short of the finish line. Skiing at top speed, she lost her balance at the second-to-last gate. Her legs flew wide, and she tumbled past the last gate and into the finish line.