Convicted in 2016 of rape of a minor, Steven Van de Velde was selected for the Dutch beach volleyball team for the Paris Olympic Games.
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 raping a 12-year-old girl, according to British newspaper The Telegraph. The athlete served part of his sentence in Britain and was then transferred to the Netherlands, where he was eventually released before returning to volleyball in 2017.
“We know Steven’s story”said Michel Everaert, secretary general of the Dutch Volleyball Federation (Nevobo), in a statement. “He was found guilty at the time under English law, and he served his sentence.”, he added. Experts, consulted by Nevobo and the Dutch Olympic Committee, judged that there was no “no chance” that Van de Velde is doing it again, he stressed.
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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 Federation, the player admitted to having committed “the biggest mistake of (his) young life”. “I can’t go back, so I will have to bear the consequences”he would have declared.
