Dutch beach volleyball player and convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde has broken his silence on his controversial Olympic participation in his first media appearances since the Paris Games. He revealed in an interview that he considered quitting the Olympics, but that he “didn’t want to give others the power to bully me out.”
Van de Velde and his partner Matthew Immers were eliminated from the beach volleyball competition after losing to Brazil in the round of 16 in three sets. The duo played four matches in the tournament and Van de Velde was heartily booed by the spectators in every match.
Even before Van de Velde set foot in Paris’ Eiffel Tower Stadium, he was under intense scrutiny after sports fans and activists learned he had pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old British girl. Petitions sought to have the convicted rapist disqualified from the Games, and advocates called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to investigate how he was allowed to compete.
The IOC, in turn, stated that it was not in a position to prevent the Dutch Olympic team from sending an athlete who had qualified in the usual way.
During the Games, Van de Velde was unable to comment on the outrage surrounding him, as his national committee banned him from speaking to the media, a break with long-standing IOC policy. But now that he is back home in the Netherlands, Van de Velde is speaking out.
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In a interview with the Dutch national broadcaster NOSVan de Velde said he considered quitting competition, both before and during the Olympics.
“I definitely had a moment of breakdown, both before and during the tournament. But I thought: I’m not going to give others the power to bully me away or get me away,” Van de Velde said.
Almost every time Van de Velde served the ball during his matches at the Paris Games, he was booed and jeered by the spectators in the audience, although there was also mixed applause from the orange-clad Dutch fans. The athlete told NOS that the booing affected his game.
“When I think about how busy I was with peripheral stuff … it had an impact,” he said, adding that he had spoken to a sports psychologist about it, especially when the booing increased during the second game. “It’s definitely annoying, I get emotional about it.”
The athlete said he expected negative reactions, but was surprised by the amount of hate he received for his participation.
“I think it’s a shame,” he said. “It’s been 10 years, I’ve played more than a hundred tournaments.”
During a press conference, Van de Velde burst into tears. He regretted the negative impact of the hatred on his family and his volleyball partner Immers.
“I did something wrong 10 years ago. I have to accept that. But hurting people around me — whether it’s Matthew, my wife, my child … that’s just too much for me.”
He accused the British media of publishing articles with photographs of his wife and other personal details, the Telegraph reports.
Van de Velde was convicted of three counts of rape in 2016 after admitting to raping a 12-year-old girl he met online when he was 19. He spent 13 months in prison, 12 months in the UK and one month in the Netherlands.
Despite his lawyers complaining during the trial that Van de Velde’s then-flourishing sports career was over, the beach volleyball player almost immediately returned to competition for the Netherlands. He played internationally again in 2017, months after being released from prison.
Van de Velde acknowledged in the NOS interview that critics have good reason to question his participation in the Olympic Games.
“I understand that it’s a problem: Can someone with such a past stand on such a stage? That’s a legitimate question,” he said. “I know that this will play a role for the rest of my life. I have to accept that, because I made a mistake.”
Van de Velde is now married and has a young son, and he told NOS that he is not the same person he used to be. He thanked his family and the Dutch Olympic Committee for their support, but said that it might not be worth it to compete in the Olympics again.
“It was an intense experience, which I haven’t fully processed yet,” he said. “Certainly for my family, so I will definitely take their opinion into account.”
Van de Velde continues to compete internationally for the Netherlands. He played his first match in the European Beach Volleyball Championship on Wednesday. The competition started on Tuesday and will run until August 18.
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Kathryn Mannie
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