A man convicted in 2016 of raping a minor has been selected for the Dutch beach volleyball team for the Paris Olympic Games, the Dutch Federation confirmed on Thursday.
Steven van de Velde, now 29, was sentenced to four years in prison after admitting to the rape of a 12-year-old girl, according to the British newspaper The Telegraph.
The athlete served part of his sentence in Britain then was transferred to the Netherlands where he was eventually released before returning to volleyball in 2017. “We know Steven’s story.”said Michel Everaert, general secretary of the Dutch Volleyball Federation (Nevobo), in a press release. “He was found guilty at the time under English law, and he served his sentence”he added.
“No reason to doubt him”
Experts, consulted by Nevobo and the Dutch Olympic Committee, judged that there was no “no chance” that Van de Velde does it again, he stressed. Michel Everaert still believes that the player was “fully reintegrated into the Dutch volleyball community”.
“He proves to be a professional and an exemplary human being, and there is no reason to doubt him since his return”According to the Dutch Football Association, the player admitted to having made “the biggest mistake of (his) young life”. “I can’t go back, so I will have to bear the consequences”he reportedly said.
