A Dutch beach volleyball player who is a convicted child rapist was booed when he walked out to compete at Eiffel Tower Stadium on Sunday.
The Netherlands have faced a fierce backlash for selecting Steven van de Velde, who was convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl in 2016, on their Olympic team. AOC mission Anna Meares said pre-Games that he would not be welcome on the Australian team.
AP reported that he and team partner Matthew Immers were greeted with a mixture of boos and applause when they took to the sand to warm up for their first match against Italy, but the booing became louder when van de Velde was formally introduced by the announcer. He has been protected from speaking to the media by the Dutch Olympic committee and did not speak to reporters after they lost the match.
Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde was booed before his match.Credit: AP
“He’s not here because he just wanted to rest his mind about it and just focus on the game,” said Immers, who said he did not notice the crowd reaction.
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 told AP: “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,” van Vliet said. “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 served a combined 13 months in prison in Britain, where the crime was committed, and the Netherlands.
Source Agencies
