Tony Munroe, Julien Pretot

BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai was on hand on Tuesday to watch China’s Eileen Gu as she won gold https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/freestyle-skiing-chinas-gu-wins-gold-medal-womens-big-air-2022-02-08 in the Big Air competition in Beijing to put the host nation at the top of the medals table.

Peng could be seen at the stand wearing a black knitted hat and the Olympic rings, as well as a black coat bearing the Chinese flag.

Peng’s well-being became a matter of global concern when she appeared to allege https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-tennis-star-peng-says-ex-vice-premier-forced-her-into-sex-2021-11-03 on social media in November that a former Chinese vice premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her in the past. The post was removed quickly and she vanished from the public for three weeks.

She was one of many Olympic athletes, and delegate members from various countries that she was with during Tuesday’s competition.

Thomas Bach (President International Olympic Committee) visited Peng, during which time he met with other members.

Bach said that she had just met the woman, and was sitting at the stadium when Bach spoke to Reuters.

“She was one of the athletes, I met with several athletes from Switzerland, Germany and the U.S.” he stated.

Peng, a three-time Olympian was not expected to be present at the Games. However, speculations grew when the IOC stated that it would meet Peng in Beijing. According to the IOC’s last week statement, Peng will meet Bach in the Olympic bubble.

Bach stated that Peng will soon leave the “closed loop”, which is used to separate Olympic athletes and other personnel from the Chinese public in order to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Bach replied, “She was sitting there, and we had an opportunity to chat and now she must go to quarantine. She said to me that she will leave the closed loop now.”

Peng hasn’t said much since the initial post on social media. The discussion surrounding this scandal has been tightly censored within China’s cyberspace. Searches for Peng’s name in Weibo (NASDAQ) continue to be without any recent results.

However, in an interview conducted on Sunday with French newspaper L’Equipe at a hotel inside the Olympic bubble in Beijing, Peng denied https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinese-tennis-player-peng-denies-making-accusation-sexual-assault-2022-02-07 she had accused anyone of sexual assault.

The World Tennis Association, which suspended its tournaments in China following Peng’s post, said on Monday that her denial of making the accusation had done little https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/wta-says-latest-peng-interview-does-not-ease-concerns-about-her-safety-2022-02-07 to address concerns about her safety.

Gu, a San Francisco native, was China’s greatest star at the Games.

Gu stated, “It is a great honour for athletes from different sports. You know, especially when more well-known sports like tennis pay attention to smaller, free skiers. I believe it gives us an incredible platform to hopefully spread small sports around the world.”

“I feel so thankful that she is healthy and happy. She’ll be doing the same things as before.”