The Dutch Olympic Committee risks a backlash after confirming that convicted rapist Steven van de Velde may represent the country at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Van de Velde, 29, has qualified for the beach volleyball Games with his partner Matthew Immers, but his participation in the event in the French capital is likely to cause controversy after he raped a 12-year-old British girl in 2014.
The Dutch star was 19 when he flew from the Netherlands to the UK to meet the schoolgirl in August 2014. The two started chatting on Facebook, after which they deflowered her.
The athlete, who knew how young the girl was at the time, was sentenced to four years in prison in March 2016 after admitting three counts of rape. He was released in 2017 after serving just one year of his sentence.
Van de Velde has secured a place for Paris 2024, but the country’s Olympic Committee has the final say on the selection.
Dutch volleyball player Steven van de Velde (pictured), who was jailed for raping a 12-year-old girl, has qualified to compete in the Paris Olympics next month
Van de Velde was 19 when he flew from the Netherlands to Britain in August 2014 to meet the schoolgirl. Here it can be seen during the Beach World Champs in 2023.
Van de Velde in the photo during the final of the qualification for the German championships in 2020
The Dutch Olympic Committee*Sports Federation says in a statement that there is no reason to exclude Van de Velde from participation in the Games.
“Since 2018, Steven van de Velde has been participating in international beach volleyball tournaments again after an intensive, professionally supervised process,” a spokesperson told Mail Sport.
‘The considerations and conditions for his return to top sports level were determined at the time by the Dutch Volleyball Federation (NeVoBo) and NOC*NSF partly on the basis of the ‘NOC*NSF Integrity Record Guidelines’. These guidelines, among other things, establish the conditions under which athletes can return to top sporting level after conviction.
‘In the meantime, Steven van de Velde has met all the qualification criteria for the Olympic Games and is therefore included in the group of athletes who formally transferred from the Dutch associations to NOC*NSF on July 4, which will then be responsible for them during the Olympic Games. Olympic Games.’
The International Olympic Committee, which governs the Games, said: ‘The nomination of individual team members, following qualification on the field of play, is the sole responsibility of each respective National Olympic Committee. We therefore refer to the Dutch NOC for further information.’
At his trial just under a decade ago, Aylesbury Crown Court heard how Van de Velde had traveled to Britain, met his victim and had sex with her.
Prosecutor Sandra Beck told the court at the time: ‘She describes that she met Steven Van de Velde on Facebook, they spoke regularly and he made her feel ‘special’.
“She certainly made it clear that she was seven years younger than him. This social media relationship took place over a period of time.”
The volleyball player’s victim had added him as a friend on Facebook after he commented positively on one of her photos, the court heard.
They started talking daily via Facebook, Snapchat and Skype before he arranged to visit her and arrived in Milton Keynes in August 2014.
The schoolgirl told her family she was staying with a friend and went to try to book a hotel with the older teen, who was 19 at the time.
When they couldn’t find a room, they went to Furzton Lake in the city, where they drank Baileys and she performed a sex act on him.
The next day, after the couple slept in cardboard boxes under a staircase at the Premier Inn because they were once 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 due to the girl’s young age.
The sportsman, from Westeinde 46, Voorburg, Netherlands, was extradited to Britain on January 8 when he was arrested on suspicion of sexual acts. He later admitted three counts of rape of a child.
The International Olympic Committee says it is up to individual countries to select for Paris 2024
Van de Velde was released in 2017 after serving just one year of his four-year prison sentence.
After his release, he said: ‘I would like to correct all the nonsense that was written about me while I was incarcerated.
‘I didn’t read anything about it on purpose, but I understand that it was very bad, that I was branded as a sex monster, as a pedophile. I’m not, really.
‘Everyone can have their opinion about me, but it’s only fair if they also know my side of the story.’