torsdag 25. november 2021

Who is Zhang Gaoli? The man at the center of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai's #MeToo allegation

Before retiring as vice premier, Zhang Gaoli was the face of China's organizing efforts ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics. As the head of a government working group on the Beijing Games, Zhang inspected venue construction sites, visited athletes, unveiled official emblems, and held meeting after meeting to coordinate preparation work.

He received International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach at the leadership compound in the Chinese capital in 2016, promising to make the Games "fantastic, extraordinary and excellent." 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.