- The 29-year-old was booed by supporters at the Eiffel Tower Stadium on Friday
- Steven van de Velde was previously convicted of the rape of a 12-year-old girl
- His participation in the volleyball competition of the Olympic Games in Paris has been criticized
Convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde received another hostile reception when he was loudly booed by the crowd during the Netherlands’ volleyball defeat to Norway.
The 29-year-old has been convicted of sex crimes after previously raping a 12-year-old girl, but was controversially named in the Dutch Olympic volleyball squad.
Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison after flying from the Netherlands to the UK in August 2014 to meet the schoolgirl after the two started chatting on Facebook.
The athlete, who was 19 and knew how young the girl was at the time, was sentenced to four years in prison in March 2016 after admitting three charges of rape. He was released in 2017 after serving just a year of his sentence.
He was greeted with an icy greeting on Friday as he took to the court at the Eiffel Tower Stadium for their third volleyball match at the Paris Olympics.
Convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde again received hostile reception during Dutch volleyball team defeat
The 29-year-old is a convicted sex offender after previously raping a 12-year-old girl
Van de Velde was booed and jeered by fans at the Eiffel Tower Stadium on Friday evening
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Van de Velde walked onto the field with teammate Matthew Immers and later received booing and whistling from the crowd when his name was read out to the fans present.
Even when Van de Velde took his turn serving in the 2-0 loss against the reigning Olympic volleyball champions Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, there were occasional cheers and displeasure.
Despite the loss, Van de Velde’s Olympic adventure continues as he reached the last sixteen with just one win in one of his three matches.
A judge from the previous round, Van de Velde, called his promising career a “shattered dream” after his horrific conviction, but against all odds and despite public outrage, the team was selected for the Games in Paris.
Dutch Olympic selection committee supports Van de Velde’s inclusion in their team
However, he is not staying with other athletes in the Olympic village after the British Olympic Association raised concerns about this with the IOC.
The Dutch selection committee for the Olympic Games supported Van de Velde’s inclusion in their team and previously explained that he met all the criteria to participate in the Games in the French capital.
‘Since 2018, Steven van de Velde has again participated in international beach volleyball tournaments, after an intensive and professionally supervised process,’ a spokesperson told Mail Sport.
‘Steven van de Velde now meets all the qualification criteria for the Olympic Games and is therefore part of the group of athletes who formally transferred from the Dutch national associations to the NOC on 4 July, which will then become responsible for them during the Olympic Games.’