Steven van de Velde was greeted with boos from spectators as he made his Olympic debut in Paris on Sunday.
Who is he, what did he do, and what has been said about his inclusion at the Games?
Steven van de Velde is probably the most controversial athlete to appear at the Paris Olympics.
The 29-year-old Dutch beach volleyball player is a convicted child rapist.
In 2014, when he was 19, he raped a 12-year-old British girl.
He met his victim on Facebook and travelled from Amsterdam to the UK and attacked the girl at an address in Milton Keynes.
Van de Velde was given a four-year sentence in 2016.
The Milton Keynes Citizen reported at the time of his sentencing that he appeared via video link at Aylesbury Crown Court and wept as he heard his victim ended up self-harming and taking an overdose.
After serving part of his jail term in England, he was sent back to the Netherlands where his sentence was adjusted according to Dutch laws.
He served a combined 13 months in prison in Britain and the Netherlands.
The Dutch volleyball federation (Nevobo) said van de Velde was “proving to be an exemplary professional and human being and there has been no reason to doubt him since his return”.
They added he had their “full support” and after his release had sought professional counselling.
Meanwhile, the country’s Olympic committee said van de Velde had met all the qualification requirements for the Olympic Games “and is therefore part of the team”.
A spokesman for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) deferred to the Dutch and reiterated what national officials have said about extra safeguards in place.
“Not to excuse it in any way but this took place, I think, 10 years ago and I think, as a general rule I think we need to allow for the possibility of rehabilitation,” Mark Adams said at the IOC’s news conference on the day of van de Velde’s debut.
The International Volleyball Federation said it was unable to stop the Netherlands from sending van de Velde to Paris after he qualified in the usual way.
In a statement released by Nevobo, van de Velde said: “I understand that in the run-up to the biggest sporting event in the world, this can attract the attention of international media.
“I cannot reverse it, so I will have to bear the consequences. It has been the biggest mistake of my life.”
Van de Velde was booed when he was introduced to the crowd before the match against Italian pair Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula – although there was some applause for his teammate Matthew Immers as they arrived.
Rape Crisis England & Wales has said his inclusion at the games was “shocking”.
In a statement to Sky News, The Survivors Trust said: “The fact that Van de Velde is allowed to continue his career after admitting ‘the biggest mistake of his life’ is further endorsement of the shocking toleration we have of child sexual abuse.
“The rape of a child was planned, calculated involving international travel and will undoubtedly cause his victim lifelong trauma, irreversibly changing the course of her life.
“As a society we have to start embracing a zero-tolerance approach to this heinous and costly crime.
“His lack of remorse and empathy for his victim is chilling and the allowance of his colleagues and the Olympic committee to promote him to a young audience as a sports person to look up to and therefore by implication is deeply disturbing.”
Van de Velde did not speak to reporters after the three-set loss to Italy, 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 Mr Immers, who said he did not notice the crowd reaction.
The Dutch Olympic committee has also moved him away from the Olympic Village to alternative accommodation.
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,” Mr 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.”
Van de Velde had been playing volleyball for a while before his conviction caught up with him in the sporting arena.
During the two-year qualifying period for the Olympics, van de Velde’s record was not an issue.
However, it resurfaced after the team played its way into the number 11 spot in the world rankings as the number two team from the Netherlands, earning a place at the Olympics.
Mr van Vliet said the controversy being brought up was a “surprise” to van de Velde and his teammate.
“He has been playing with him many, many tournaments for many, many years – the last three years. It has never been an issue,” Mr van Vliet said.
“I’m not judging if it should have been or not, but it has never been an issue. And now, all of a sudden, for them, it’s a surprise.”
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Source: New York Post
