Convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde and the Netherlands reach the last-16 in the beach volleyball at the Paris Olympics… as the Dutchman is again booed loudly by spectators
Convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde received a hostile reception again as he was loudly booed by the crowd during the Netherlands’ volleyball defeat against Norway.
The 29-year-old is a convicted sex offender after he previously raped a 12-year-old girl, but was controversially named in the Netherlands Olympic volleyball squad.
Van de Velde was jailed for four years after he flew from the Netherlands to the UK to meet the schoolgirl in August 2014 after the pair started chatting on Facebook.
The sportsman, who was 19 and knew how young the girl was at the time, was sentenced in March 2016 to four years in prison after admitting three counts of rape. He was released in 2017 having only served a year of his sentence.
On Friday, he was given a frosty welcome when stepping out onto the court at the Eiffel Tower Stadium for their third volleyball match at the Olympics in Paris.
Convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde received a hostile reception again during the Netherlands volleyball defeat
The 29-year-old is a convicted sex offender after he previously raped a 12-year-old girl
Van de Velde was booed and jeered by fans at the Eiffel Tower Stadium on Friday evening
Van de Velde walked out alongside team-mate Matthew Immers and was later hit with a chorus of boos and whistles from the crowd when his name was read out to fans in attendance.
Further shouts and noises of displeasure were also audible at times when Van de Velde served in the 2-0 loss against reigning Olympic volleyball champions Anders Mol and Christian Sorum.
However, despite losing, Van de Velde’s Olympic journey will continue after reaching the last-16 round of the event having won just one of their three matches.
A judge previously Van de Velde that his promising career was a ‘shattered dream’ following his vile conviction, but against the odds and public outcry, made the team for the Paris Games.
Dutch Olympic selectors have supported Van de Velde’s inclusion in their team
However, he is not staying with other athletes in Olympic village after the British Olympic Association aired concerns over the matter with the IOC.
Dutch Olympic selectors supported Van de Velde’s inclusion in their team and previously explained he had met all the criteria needed to appear at the Games in France’s capital.
‘Since 2018, Steven van de Velde has been participating in international beach volleyball tournaments again following an intensive, professionally supervised trajectory,’ a spokesperson told Mail Sport.
‘Meanwhile, Steven van de Velde has met all qualification criteria for the Olympic Games and is therefore included in the group of athletes who formally passed over on July 4 from the Dutch national federations to NOC, who then becomes responsible for them during the Olympic Games.’
