Tennis star Peng Shuai said that because of her post there has been a “huge misunderstanding” in which she made a sexual assault accusation against a former Chinese party leader.
Ms Peng was not to be seen for weeks and the post on social media was also quickly deleted.
The interview was under highly controlled conditions, with French newspaper, L’Equipe.
Stephen McDonell, the BBC’s Beijing correspondent compared it to a propaganda exercise.
As the interview was conducted at the Winter Olympics under the presence of a representative from China’s Olympic Committee, L’Equipe had to submit questions in advance. The Chinese comments were also translated into English by the representative.
It was told by Ms Peng to the outlet that she was living a normal life and she also expressed thanks for the concern directed towards her.
She told L’Equipe that she would like to know – ‘’why such concern?… I never said anyone sexually assaulted me.’’
On November 2nd, on Chinese social platform Weibo, Ms Peng has published a 1600-word essay, where former Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli was accused of a sexual assault by her.
The post was shared widely on Chinese social media before it was removed less than an hour after publication which included the details of her relationship with him and also included accusations that on at least one occasion she had felt constrained into sex.
Ms Peng denied making the accusations, in the months that followed.
The denial was repeated in the L’Equipe interview.
She said that this post has given rise to a huge misunderstanding from the outside world. She hopes that the meaning of this post will no longer be twisted, and also that nothing more is added to the hype.
She deleted the post herself because she “wanted to”. But no more explanation was given by her as how the post had been misunderstood.
With the permission from the Chinese Olympic Committee, the interview was granted to the French outlet. The outlet said that despite submitting questions prior to the interview, more questions were also asked on the day.
At times, in collusion with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to play down the Peng Shuai controversy, every attempt taken by the Communist Party just inflamed it more, leaving more questions.
In this case, French media outlet L’Equipe, has been as much involved in a propaganda exercise as in an “interview” to publish this highly controlled comments.
The paper also agreed to publish only her answers and not to include any commentary at all around them.
Peng Shuai is also reported to have said that, she never said anyone had sexually assaulted her.
On Monday, the IOC reported that the Chinese athlete had dinner with its president, Thomas Bach, in the Chinese capital, Beijing. And on Saturday, it was a follow-up meeting for the pair.
The first authorities to vouch for Peng’s welfare was Mr Bach who after that held a video call with her during the period of concern about her treatment by state authorities.
Some right groups criticised the IOC for failing to address China’s human rights record in the lead up to and during the Winter Games.
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) led calls for the allegations in the statement to be investigated and pull off all its events from China in protest.
