Even before the start of the competition, the athlete Steven van de Velde, a Dutch beach volleyball player selected to compete for the Olympic title in Paris, is at the heart of a huge scandal. Indeed, the selection of the athlete has caused a real uproar, due to his criminal record.
Steven van de Velde, 29, was sentenced in 2016 to four years in prison for the rape of a minor but was released in 2017. Under a treaty between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, he was extradited to his home country to serve his sentence, which was adapted to Dutch law. Until 2023, rape in the Netherlands, to be prosecuted as such, had to involve “physical force, threat or coercion”, as Amnesty International explains.
The victim was 12 years old at the time of the incident, the athlete was 19. In 2014, Steven van de Velde had travelled to the United Kingdom to meet the girl he had met on Facebook. The Dutchman had raped the victim at her home, after giving her alcohol, taking advantage of her mother’s absence. The girl was traumatised by the rape she suffered: it was said during the trial that she had self-harmed and had taken an overdose after her attack.
“It is clear that this is the end of his career for him”
Upon his release, Steven van de Velde defended his actions, saying he was not “a sex monster” for raping the girl, as reported by The Australian: “I want to correct all the nonsense that was written about me when I was locked up. (…) I didn’t read any of that, deliberately, but I understand that it was very bad, that I was labelled as a sex monster, as a paedophile. (…) Which I’m not, I’m not. Everyone can have an opinion about me, but it’s only fair that they know my side of the story as well.”
When sentencing, his lawyer reportedly said: “He has lost a brilliant sporting career and been branded a rapist. It is clear that this is a career-ender for him,” the BBC reported in 2016.
“We know Steven’s story”
The Dutch Volleyball Association, however, allowed him to resume his playing career. Van de Velde therefore started competing internationally again in 2018 and was indeed selected for the Paris Olympics, with the Dutch Volleyball Association and the Dutch Olympic organisers sticking to their decision despite the controversy.
“We know Steven’s story,” CEO Michel Everaert said in a statement on the federation’s website. “We had long discussions with the National Olympic Committee, the FIVB and Stevan van de Velde himself before he returned to the sport.” Experts reportedly judged the player’s risk of reoffending to be very low. Faced with this choice, a petition was created to “ban a convicted child rapist from competing.”
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