07 Feb 2022 – The IOC President has held a face-to-face meeting with Peng Shuai, as announced last November. He was joined by the former Chair of the Athletes’ Commission and IOC member Kirsty Coventry. The meeting took place on Saturday over dinner at the Olympic Club in Beijing.

Peng Shuai informed the President that she would attend several events at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 over the coming days. Later that evening,  she and Kirsty Coventry attended the mixed curling match between China and Norway.

During the dinner, the three spoke about their common experience as athletes at the Olympic Games, and Peng Shuai spoke of her disappointment at not being able to qualify for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. In this context, she also shared her intention to travel to Europe when the COVID-19 pandemic is over, and the IOC President invited her to Lausanne to visit the IOC and The Olympic Museum, to continue the conversation on their Olympic experiences. Peng Shuai accepted this invitation.

Kirsty Coventry and Peng Shuai also agreed that they would remain in contact.  And all three agreed that any further communication about the content of the meeting would be left to her discretion.

The in-person meeting in Beijing followed a series of telephone conversations with Peng Shuai over the past few months, which started on 21 November with a call attended by the IOC President and the current Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, Emma Terho, who unfortunately could not take part in the meeting in Beijing.