Peng Shuai allegation: Who is Zhang Gaoli, the former face of China's Winter Olympics preparations

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But now, three years into his retirement and less than three months before the Olympics, Zhang has found himself at the center of an explosive #MeToo scandal that has prompted global uproar — amplifying calls for a boycott of the Games that he helped organize.

“Why did you have to come back to me, took me to your home to force me to have sex with you?” Peng alleged in a since-deleted social media post dated November 2.

“I know that for someone of your eminence, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, you said you were not afraid. But even if it’s just me, like an egg hitting the stone, a moth flying into flames, courting self-destruction, I would tell the truth about us,” she wrote.

Chinese authorities rushed to muffle Peng with blanket censorship. But as weeks went by, the women’s tennis world began to demand answers as to Peng’s whereabouts — as well as a full investigation into her allegations against Zhang.

Amid growing global concern about her safety and well-being, individuals working for Chinese government-controlled media and the state sports system released a stream of “proof of life” photos and videos of Peng.

Bach, the IOC president who has been photographed with Zhang on at least one occasion, held a video call with Peng under the close watch of a Chinese sports official, during which the three-time Olympian insisted she is “safe and well” and wanted to have her “privacy respected.”

But Beijing has avoided any mention of Peng’s sexual assault allegations, with censors blocking all CNN broadcasts on this story in the country.

All the while, Zhang has remained completely outside of public view, and he has not issued any response to the accusation.

Since retirement, Zhang has kept a low profile and faded from public life, and there is no published information relating to his current whereabouts. CNN’s repeated requests for comment from China’s State Council Information Office — which handles press inquiries on behalf of the central government — have gone unanswered….

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Source : cnn