Steven van de Velde, a Dutch beach volleyball player who served time in prison for having sex with a 12-year-old girl, was welcomed with jeers and applause at the time of his introduction before losing his opening match on Sunday, July 28 at the Paris Olympic Games. (Full Coverage | More Sports News)
Van de Velde had been given the support of his country’s national Olympic committee, and exchanged a warm hug with teammate Immers before the start of the game. But his selection has caused outrage among women’s and sports safety groups.
Post the defeat, he was not allowed to speak to the reporters, a break with a longstanding IOC policy. “He’s not here because he just wanted to rest his mind about it and just focus on the game,” said teammate Matthew Immers, who said he did not notice the crowd reaction.
Dutch team spokesman John van Vliet said the decision to shelter Van de Velde was made by the national Olympic committee and shared with the International Olympic Committee. Asked if they were protecting a convicted child rapist, he said: “We are protecting a convicted child rapist to do his sport as best as possible and for a tournament which he qualified for.”
“The general matter of sex conviction and sex-related crime is definitely a more important issue than sport,” Van Vliet said in the mixed zone after the match. “In his case, we’ve got a person who has been convicted, who did his sentence, who did everything afterwards which he can do to be able to compete again.”
What's The Fuss Around Van de Velde?
The Dutch volleyball player was convicted in 2016 of having sex with a 12-year-old girl in England. He served a combined 13 months in prison in Britain and the Netherlands.
After his release, the Dutch Olympic committee said Van de Velde met the conditions to return to competition after a conviction and resumed his career in 2017 “after an intensive professionally supervised process.”
“Van de Velde now meets all the qualification requirements for the Olympic Games and is therefore part of the team,” the committee had said then.
The International Volleyball Federation said it was powerless to stop the Netherlands from sending Van de Velde to Paris after he qualified in the usual way. Van de Velde, who is not staying at the athlete’s village and has not been available to the media, said after earning his Olympic berth that the incident was “the biggest mistake of my life.”
“I understand that in the run-up to the biggest sporting event in the world, this can attract the attention of international media,” he said in a statement posted on the website of the Netherlands Volleyball Federation. “I cannot reverse it, so I will have to bear the consequences.”
