INTERNATIONAL: The International Olympic Committee Spokesman told reporters on Monday (February 7) that it was not the IOC's place to judge whether Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai is speaking freely.

Earlier on Monday, French newspaper L'Equiper published an interview in which Peng denied she ever accused anyone of sexual assault, adding that she herself had deleted her social media post in November that had appeared to make such a claim.

The well-being of Peng, a three-time Olympian, became a matter of global concern when she appeared to allege on social media that a former Chinese vice premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her in the past.

The IOC Spokesman, Mark Adams confirmed that Peng had met with IOC member Kirsty Coventry on Saturday (February 5) and went to watch the mixed doubles curling later that evening.

Beijing 2022 Vice-President, Yang Shu'an said the local organising committee knew nothing about the meeting.

In her now-deleted post on China's Twitter-like Weibo, Peng had written "why did you take me to your house and force me into having relations with you?", though she also described the relationship with Zhang as an on-off one that was also consensual.

The post led the Women's Tennis Association to suspend tournaments in China and caused an international outcry about her safety.

Discussion of the scandal has been heavily censored in China's tightly controlled cyberspace and searches for Peng's name on Weibo continue to show no recent search results.

Peng has not updated her Weibo account since the post was removed.

The interview was conducted in Chinese and translated into English by a Chinese Olympic official during the interview, as well as an interpreter based in Paris, said the paper.

Questions were submitted in advance, and the paper agreed to publish Peng's responses without commentary, it said.

Peng, pictured wearing a red tracksuit top with the characters for China on it, also sought to allay fears over her safety, saying her life since November had been "nothing special". She denied she had "disappeared" after the commotion when she has not seen in public for weeks.

She also said she had not been aware of the worries expressed by the international community, such as the use of social media hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai by some of the world's top tennis players, including Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, as she did not watch much foreign media news and could not read in English.

The WTA, which said in December that Peng's appearances did not address its concerns about her wellbeing, did not immediately respond to a request for comments on her latest remarks.

In a statement on Monday, the IOC said Peng would attend several Olympics events. She also plans to travel to Europe after the pandemic and visit the IOC headquarters in Switzerland, it added.

Peng also said a previous knee injury that had required several rounds of surgery and her age made it unlikely she would compete professionally again.