‘Ashamed’ BBC pundit Paula Radcliffe issues grovelling apology statement after wishing Dutch volleyball player who was jailed for raping a 12-year-old ‘the best of luck’ at Paris Olympics – insisting she ‘categorically condemns’ the crime
- Steven Van de Velde traveled from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom to meet the girl
- He was sentenced to four years in prison, but was released after serving one year of his sentence
- Paula Radcliffe has apologised after wishing the athlete ‘the best of luck’ in Paris
BBC pundit and Olympic athlete Paula Radcliffe apologized in a cringe-worthy statement on Thursday after wishing good luck to a Dutch paedophile who raped a 12-year-old girl.
Beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde, now 29, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after he confessed to raping a 12-year-old British girl when he was 19.
His participation in the team led to great controversy and security was tightened at the Dutch team’s base in the athletes’ village.
Former world and European running champion Radcliffe, who was in Paris on behalf of the presenter, admitted she wished him “the very best of luck” during a shock radio interview with LBC.
It is a difficult task to punish him [van de Velde] “Twice, and if he has managed to get his life back on track after being in prison and has qualified to play at the highest level of sport, then I wish him the very best of luck,” she said.
Paula Radcliffe apologized in a cringe-worthy statement on social media on Thursday after wishing good luck to a Dutch pedophile who raped a 12-year-old girl in the run-up to the Olympics
Dutch Olympic beach volleyball player Van de Velde was convicted of child abuse in 2016
After receiving massive criticism for her astonishing comments and claims that Van de Velde should not be running, Radcliffe released a statement apologising on social media.
The 50-year-old stressed that she “categorically condemns” rape and explained why she made her comments about Van de Velde.
“I gave an interview last night and made some comments that I deeply regret,” she said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
“I want to sincerely apologize and emphasize how much I categorically condemn the crime of rape. I am ashamed that my words spoke so inaccurately about myself. It was a mistake not to condemn this clearly at the beginning.
‘When I tried to explain how the athlete in question could possibly be allowed to participate in the Olympic Games, I thought about the legal and regulatory aspects. I also wanted to emphasize how dangerous it is for an athlete convicted of such a crime to be allowed to return.
‘Participating in the Olympic Games is a privilege that should be reserved only for those who uphold the Olympic moral ideals.
‘I absolutely should not have wished him success and I really have no explanation for why I said that.
‘I sincerely regret that I misrepresented my intended views and I understand that this statement cannot in any way repair the damage, but I hope it conveys my deepest regret. Paula Radcliffe.’
She also responded to an X user who called her comments about Van de Velde ‘shocking’: ‘I agree and can only apologise, that was not what I meant.
“I stress that it is not something that can be excused in any way. I was confused in my mind and reacted to the right to ban him from the Games and I do not know why I wished him luck. Again, my apologies.”
Before publishing her cringe-worthy 168-word apology, Radcliffe also waded into the scandal surrounding dressage star Charlotte Dujardin, who was banned for six months and withdrew from the Games after footage emerged of her repeatedly hitting a horse during a training session.
In an interview with Andrew Marr, the retired distance runner bizarrely said that while she found it “disturbing” to watch the video of Charlotte Dujardin whipping her horse, she “felt sympathy for both sides of the story, especially when that’s normal practice in dressage.”