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Beach volleyball player and convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde was heartily booed by the crowd during his first two matches at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Van de Velde’s participation in the Dutch Olympic team led to outrage prior to the Games. Women’s rights advocates and sports fans alike wondered why the rapist was allowed to participate in one of the most important sporting events in the world.
In 2016, Van de Velde pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old British girl he met online. 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.
The Dutch Volleyball Association supported Van de Velde during the controversy and defended his participation in the Dutch Olympic team.
“After his release, Van de Velde sought and received professional guidance. He has shown his environment — privately and professionally — that he has self-awareness and reflection,” the federation said. “Van de Velde now meets all qualification requirements for the Olympic Games and is therefore part of the team.”
Calls for Van de Velde to be removed from the Olympics are loud on social media. The crowds at both of Van de Velde’s games so far have been just as loud.
The 29-year-old Olympic rookie was greeted with a handful of boos when he first stepped onto the sand to warm up ahead of his first match against Italy. The booing was louder at the more formal introduction before the match, although there was also some mixed applause from the orange-clad Dutch fans.
All other players, including Van de Velde’s volleyball partner Matthew Immers, received nothing but cheers. Van de Velde and Immers lost to the Italian team after three sets.
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During their next match, against Chile, the crowd was even louder, booing Van de Velde every time he served the ball.
Dutchman Steven van de Velde fires a shot over the net against Chile during a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on Wednesday.
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
Van de Velde and Immers won after two sets from the Chilean team. Instead of the usual applause for the winners, the audience cheered loudly.
“I was definitely disappointed in the crowd,” Immers said. “I can’t do anything about his past. I’m here to play with him. … So yeah, I’m disappointed. But I think we’re really strong mentally, and I’m really strong to get through this together. And we’re going to do that.”
Immers was asked about the cold reception and said that he and Van de Velde spoke on the field and acknowledged that they should support each other more. When asked if he understood why they got that reception, he said: “I don’t want to talk about that, if that’s okay.”
“I think what’s in the past is in the past, and we’re here to go for a good result together,” Immers said, noting that there were Dutch fans cheering them on. “And I want to say that there were also a lot of people who supported us, and we do it for them. I really love this sport and I still love the crowd and the people who support us.”
Steven van de Velde and Matthew Immers from the Netherlands will compete in the men’s preliminary round on Wednesday during the fifth day of beach volleyball at the Olympic Games in Paris at the Eiffel Tower Stadium.
Andre Weening/BSR Agency/Getty Images
Van de Velde will no longer be allowed to speak to reporters during the Olympics, a break with long-standing IOC policy. The Dutch Olympic team has also opted to move him to alternative accommodation in Paris, so he will not be staying in the athletes’ village. The youngest Olympic athlete at the 2024 Games has just 11 years old.
Dutch team spokesman John van Vliet said the decision not to make Van de Velde available was intended to keep the focus on the athletics competition.
“We want to talk about sports, especially him. We are very aware that when we bring Steven here, it’s not going to be about his sport and his performance,” he said. “We are here to create an environment for all of our athletes where they can perform well.”
When asked if the Dutch Olympic team was protecting a convicted child rapist, he replied: “We are protecting a convicted child rapist so he can practice his sport as best he can and for a tournament for which he has qualified.”
“The general issue of sexual conviction and sexual crime is absolutely a more important issue than sports,” Van Vliet said. “In his case, we have an individual who was convicted, who served his sentence, who then did everything he could do to be able to compete again.”
The IOC has no role in selecting Olympic athletes or setting rules for who can compete. The international volleyball federation said it “recognizes that this is a very sensitive issue” but said team selection is the responsibility of the national Olympic committee “in compliance with the eligibility criteria.”
— With files from The Associated Press
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Kathryn Mannie
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