When Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, sits down for his traditional pre-Games news conference on Thursday night, the pressing questions will be plentiful.
Chief among them could be the status of Peng Shuai, the tennis player from China who largely disappeared from public life after making sexual abuse accusations against a political official in November.
But Bach is also expected to be questioned about the Beijing Games’ strict Covid prevention measures, which have snared several athletes and team personnel in sometimes onerous and confusing protocols; subtle threats by Chinese officials against athletes who plan protests; and China’s suppression of the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority, in the western Xinjiang region, and accusations that Uyghurs are being pressed into forced labor.