At 21-years-old, Steven van de Velde was convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old British girl; now at 29, he’s an Olympic athlete
‘He shouldn’t be here’: Inclusion of a convicted rapist on Dutch Olympic team casts a shadow over beach volleyball competitionSteven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the beach volleyball match between the Netherlands and Italy at Eiffel Tower Stadium at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, Sunday, July 28, 2024.
Van de Velde and Immers played their first match on Sunday and many people watching had mixed views on whether Van de Velde should be there. Several boos could be heard when he was introduced to the crowd and some fans cheered every time he missed a shot. They lost 2-1 to a team from Italy but they still have at least two more matches in the preliminary round.
“This is how he makes his living so why shouldn’t he be able to do that? A lot of people get out of jail and are allowed to make a living,” she said. He was a 19-year-old rising star of beach volleyball when he met the girl through Facebook. The court heard that Van de Velde made her feel special and that he flew to England from Amsterdam for one day to meet her in 2014, knowing how old she was. They met in a park after the girl lied to her parents about going to a friend’s house.
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