Child rapist Steven van de Velde – convicted for having sex with Brit aged 12 – trains with the Dutch volleyball team in Paris as anger grows over him competing in the Olympics

Child molester Steven van De Velde, who was convicted of having sex with a 12-year-old British girl, was on the volleyball court in Paris with the Dutch team today. Anger over his participation in the Olympic Games is growing.

The 29-year-old convicted sex offender took part in a training session in the Champs de Mars park, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

The 1.98-meter-tall Dutchman completed a 60-minute workout with doubles partner Matthew Immers, 23, without removing his sunglasses once. The bare-chested athlete brandished various tattoos on his torso and arms.

The training took place in an afternoon temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and a stone’s throw from where the French women’s volleyball team was training.

The disgraced athlete left the field through a private entrance for competitors who laughed with teammates. But Van De Velde has been ordered not to comment on the growing scandal surrounding his appearance at Paris 2024.

He arrived in the French capital yesterday, amid tight security, on the Eurostar train from Rotterdam.

In 2016, he was sentenced to four years in prison after confessing to raping a 12-year-old British schoolgirl when he was 19, in August 2014.

The Dutchman travelled from Amsterdam to the UK and raped the girl in a house in Milton Keynes.

Despite being told by the judge that his conviction meant “the end of his career”, Van De Velde resumed his volleyball career after serving just 12 months of his four-year sentence.

In June of this year he was selected for the Dutch Olympic beach volleyball team.

The Dutch Olympic Committee said in a statement last night that it is “taking concrete measures to guarantee a safe sporting environment” for all participants.

“These measures include, at the request of Van De Velde, alternative housing for Van De Velde and no contact with the media during his stay in Paris,” a spokesperson said.

He claimed the measures were in line with “standard practice” and had been developed after a “thorough risk assessment taking into account all groups concerned”.

The spokesman said the assessment had strengthened the commission’s “confidence in the safety of all parties involved”.

Van de Velde returned to international top-level sport after being convicted of a sex offence in the United Kingdom in 2014.

“His return was possible after a specialist treatment program,” the spokesperson said.

‘Van de Velde has fully complied with all requirements and has met all strict risk assessment thresholds, controls and due diligence. Experts have stated that there is no risk of recidivism.

‘Van de Velde has always been open and honest about the case, which he calls the biggest mistake of his life.

“He deeply regrets the consequences of his actions for those involved. He has been open about the personal transformation he has undergone as a result. Since his return, he has participated in major international events without incident.

‘But his intended participation in the Olympic Games has generated a lot of interest on international social media.’

The committee said it had taken action “after close consultation with the athlete and his teammates”.

‘NOC*NSF regrets the impact of the unforeseen renewed attention, particularly on social media, for people who are struggling with trauma due to sexual offences and transgressive behaviour,’ he added.

During his trial less than ten years ago, the court in Aylesbury heard how Van de Velde had travelled to the UK, met his victim and had sex with her.

Sandra Beck, prosecuting, told the court at the time: ‘She said she met Steven van de Velde on Facebook. They spoke regularly on Facebook and he made her feel ‘special’.

“She made it clear that she was seven years younger than him. This relationship via social media took place over a period of time.”

The volleyball player’s victim had added him as a friend on Facebook after he had commented positively on one of her photos, the court heard.

They began to talk daily via Facebook, Snapchat and Skype before he arranged to visit her, arriving in Milton Keynes in August 2014.

The schoolgirl told her family she was staying with a friend and snuck away to try to book a hotel with the older teenager, then 19.

When they couldn’t find a room, they went to Furzton Lake in town, where they drank Baileys and she performed sexual acts on him.

The next day, after the couple slept in cardboard boxes under a staircase at the Premier Inn and were again unable to book a room, she took him to her empty house and he took her virginity.

Before returning to the Netherlands, Van de Velde advised her to take the morning-after pill, as they had not used contraception. It was her visit to a family planning clinic that alerted the authorities, who intervened because of the girl’s young age.

The athlete, of Westeinde 46, Voorburg, Netherlands, was extradited to the UK on 8 January when he was arrested on suspicion of sexual conduct. He later pleaded guilty to three charges of rape of a child.

Van de Velde was released from prison in 2017, after serving just one year of his four-year sentence.

After his release, he said: ‘I would like to correct all the nonsense that was written about me while I was in prison.

‘I didn’t read any of it on purpose, but I understand that it was pretty bad, that I was branded as a sex monster, as a pedophile. I’m not, really not.

‘Everyone is entitled to their opinion about me, but it is only fair that they also know my side of the story.’