Tensions were evident between the International Olympic Committee spokesman and one of his counterparts at the Beijing Organising Committee on Thursday as both answered thorny questions from local and international journalists at the Winter Olympics daily press briefing.
Several sensitive questions regarding human rights, Xinjiang labour camps, Taiwan and Hong Kong were batted away by Mark Adams, consistent with the IOC's stated policy of being politically neutral.
But the Beijing committee's Yan Jiarong was far more hawkish, jumping in before Mr Adams could move on.
When asked about '"concentration camps in Xinjiang and the existence of forced labour", which the UN human rights panel has said could involve more than 1 million Uyghurs, Mr Adams said it was not relevant to the IOC or the press conference.
"We are very concerned with protecting human rights within our sphere, within the Olympic Games and within the staging of the Olympic Games and protecting the rights of the athletes and all participants of the Olympic Games. That is what we do," he added.
"We leave it to other organisations such as the United Nations and international organisations to look at aspects of outside of what is happening here."
Ms Yan was quick to respond.
"I feel obliged to make a quick comment. I think these questions are based on lies. Some authorities have already disputed such false information with a lot of solid evidence."
Taiwan, or as it's called in the Olympic movement, Chinese Taipei, was also raised.
Clarification was sought on whether the IOC had intervened to force the Chinese Taipei delegation to take part in the opening ceremony two weeks ago, after they said they wouldn't.
Ms Yan, again, offered her thoughts once Mr Adams had finished talking.
"I would like to make supplementary remarks. I want to say that there is only one China in the world. Taiwan is an indivisible part of China. This is well recognised in the international community.
"We are always against the idea of politicising the Olympic Games."
'We are against the politicising of sports'
Mr Adams was then asked whether Ms Yan's comments were a political statement, at odds with the IOC's self-declared position of not getting involved in domestic issues and external politics.
"Our concern here is with the 206 national Olympic committees … our job is to make sure the Games take place and that the magic of the Games can happen and that we can improve the world through sport, supported by the United Nations, so we get on with our job making sure that all the athletes can compete in a fair way," he said.
Anyone watching could see Mr Adams was clearly agitated. Then came another question about Xinjiang and whether the IOC was sure none of its uniforms, provided by Chinese sponsor Anta, came from forced labour camps or used cotton from the area.
"Yes. There is a great deal of information on our website," Mr Adams responded.
"None of the production took place in Xinjiang, nor any of the input or raw materials come from that region.
"The materials used are made from recycled materials which have been third-party certified — none contain cotton — only recycled material.
"For the formal uniforms, our partner HYX pays special attention to quality of raw materials … sourcing materials around the world and we have received a record of provenance ... [which] shows the cotton comes from outside China."
Ms Yan could not resist.
"The so-called forced labour in Xinjiang is lies made up by deliberate groups and the relevant organisations have provided large amounts of facts to dispute that. We are against the politicising of sports."
The daily press conferences are hour-long affairs and for Mr Adams, this hour could not pass fast enough.
Next was a question put to Ms Yan herself, about why Beijing Organising Committee (BOCOG) staff prevented an athlete from Hong Kong from answering questions asked by a reporter from Japan's Kyodo news service.
It happened in the "mixed zone" where athletes are supposedly allowed to be able to speak freely to journalists, after the IOC relaxed the often-cited Rule 50 in the Olympic charter preventing any kind of "demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda … in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas".
"There have been preliminary investigations into this, but we need to gather more information," Ms Yan said.
"We want to emphasise that the Organising Committee has been following the host city contract and Olympic Charter to protect the freedom of speech of all the participants, and we are against the politicising of sports."
This time it was Mr Adams who jumped in.
"I understand it is an isolated case, it is clearly not what we want. We have spoken to BOCOG. Hopefully the matter is closed and there will be no repeat."
By far the most awkward moment was when a member of the foreign press addressed a young Chinese volunteer, Wei Yining, who had been brought to the press conference to talk about her experiences.
With no regard for the pressure he was putting her under, the reporter asked: "Do you know of Peng Shuai ... and is she safe in her country?'
"I am sorry. I don't really know that," Ms Wei said.
When the hour was up Mr Adams stood, turned, and without any recognition of his BOCOG counterpart, walked off the stage.
On Friday IOC president Thomas Bach will front the daily press briefing. There will be no BOCOG official there to make supplementary comments.
As you might expect, Ms Yan got the last word in as Mr Adams stood to make his exit after thanking everyone and bringing the session to a close.
"Ok, wait a minute, wait a minute," she called to the journalists already preparing to leave.
"I have something to say," she said, surprising no-one.
"My colleague, Mr Zhao Weidong, and myself are very happy to have been working together with Mark Adams and all the journalists from China and abroad to have gone through all these daily press conferences.
"On the 20th of February the chairman of BOCOG, and other executives of BOCOG will host a press conference …[to] meet the journalists and answer your questions … media from home and abroad are welcome to join us at that press conference. Thank you very much."
Mr Adams was out of shot before Ms Yan had completed her message of thanks.
