With Peng still missing, this must be a watershed moment in how the sport deals with countries that deny human rights
Huang Xueqin was only ever trying to make her world a better place. Over the years she has become well known as a bold Chinese feminist activist and journalist who has aided survivors of sexual assault and wrote detailed accounts of her experiences during the Hong Kong protests. In September, a day before Huang was due to travel to London to study at the University of Sussex, she and the labour activist Wang Jianbing vanished. They have not been heard from since and are believed to have been detained by the Chinese authorities.
This is a familiar fate for those deemed to have stepped out of line in China. It was the type of incident that was impossible not to think of, not to worry about, on 2 November when Peng Shuai’s name was methodically erased from the internet in China after she posted a lengthy message on her Weibo account detailing her relations with the former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli, who she accused of sexually assaulting her.