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Peng Shuai watches as Gu puts China atop medals table with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach
February 8, 20222022 Beijing Olympics - Freestyle Skiing - Women's Freeski Big Air - Final - Run 3 - Big Air Shougang, Beijing, China - February 8, 2022. China's Peng Shuai wearing a face mask watches the event. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Beijing, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai was on hand on Tuesday to watch China's Eileen Gu as she won gold in the Big Air competition in Beijing to put the host nation at the top of the medals table.
Peng, who could be seen in the stands wearing a black knit hat with the Olympic rings on them and a black coat with the Chinese flag, acknowledged a greeting from a journalist but declined to answer questions as she left the venue.
"I just met her, she was here sitting in the stadium," International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, who had dinner with Peng on Saturday, told Reuters.
"She was among the athletes, and I had the opportunity to meet with a number of athletes from Switzerland and from Germany and the U.S.", he said at Big Air Shougang, the distinctive urban venue built on the site of a former steel mill.
"She was sitting there and we had the opportunity to talk and now she has to go to the quarantine, she told me, she will leave now the closed loop,” Bach said.
The well-being of Peng, a three-time Olympian, became a matter of global concern when she appeared to allege on social media in November that a former Chinese vice premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her in the past.
However, in an interview with French newspaper L'Equipe at a hotel inside the Olympic bubble in Beijing, Peng denied she had made such allegations.
The World Tennis Association, which suspended its tournaments in China following Peng's post, said on Monday that Peng's denial of making the accusation, had done little to address concerns about her safety.
Peng Shuai makes Games appearance as Gu wins Big Air gold
Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai was on hand on Tuesday to watch China's Eileen Gu as she won gold in the Big Air competition in Beijing to put the host nation at the top of the medals table.
