Dutch Olympian who raped British child arrives at Paris Games amid fury

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Dutch Olympian who ****** British child arrives at Paris Games amid fury

Convicted child ******* Steven van de Velde has arrived in Paris to compete in the Olympic Games, following criticism from ******* ********* charities over the Dutch volleyball player’s participation.

Van de Velde, 29, was found guilty of three counts of ***** involving a 12-year-old British girl in 2016 and was sentenced to four years in prison. The Dutchman was 19 when he met the girl in 2014. He served 12 months of his sentence before

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Van de Velde’s presence at the Paris Games, which take place from 26 July to 11 August, has prompted calls for the Dutch Volleyball Association to reconsider its support for him.

******* ********* charities have criticised the Dutch Volleyball Association for supporting Steven van de Velde, as the convicted child ******* arrived in the French capital this week. The volleyball player

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to be removed from the international sporting event, which will start this Friday.

Instead of removing the player, the Dutch committee, in agreement with van de Velde, have organised separate accommodation away from other athletes to keep the peace, and he will not speak to the media during his time in Paris.

The Survivors Trust, a ***-based group which supports victims of ******* *********, told Yahoo News they found support for Van de Velde disturbing. “The ***** of a child was planned, calculated involving international travel and will undoubtedly cause his victim lifelong trauma, irreversibly changing the course of her life,” they said.

What did Van de Velde do?

In March 2016, Van de Velde was convicted of the 2014 ***** of

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girl whom he met online two years prior. He was aware of her age before he flew to the *** to meet her.

In August 2014, Van de Velde flew to the *** where he met and ********* assaulted the child over two days. The ***** was flagged to authorities after the child visited a ******* health clinic for the morning after pill under Van de Velde’s instruction.

The judge who sentenced him said his Olympian dreams would be “shattered”.

Judge Francis Sheridan said: “Your actions in those two days in England have wrecked your life, and you could, had you never come to England and committed these offences, have been a leader in your sport.”

He was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016, and after serving 12 months of his sentence was extradited to the Netherlands, where authorities said he would complete the rest of the sentence.

After serving one month of his sentence in the Netherlands, Van de Velde was released from prison on license – as his ******* weren’t considered ***** in the Netherlands, but ******* ******, as the 12-year-old was considered able to consent.

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Steven Van De Velde during the men’s final at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 in May this year. (Alamy)

Van de Velde was allowed to continue competing as a beach volleyball player.

During the trial, his defence lawyer Linda Strudwick said: “He’s lost a stellar sporting career, and he’s being branded a *******. In Holland, the term means violent ******* ******** without consent. The headlines say it all – ‘a **** monster.’ It’s plainly a career end for him.”

What has Van de Velde said?

Van de Velde has continued to enjoy a successful career. He won several international matches, resulting in his participation in the Olympics.

In 2018, Van de Velde publicly addressed the conviction in an

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and expressed regret. He said: “I did what I did, I can’t reverse it, so I have to carry the consequences.”

In the video, he claimed the victim said she was 16 years old. Van de Velde said: “It all started very simple and easy, just saying hi and how are you. I got that quite often. Then suddenly, it became more and more, and at one point, she told me [that she was 12 years old].

“I was really shocked, so I immediately broke off contact,” he said.

He claims he later got back in contact with the 12-year-old because things were going well in his life.

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Steven Van De Velde’s interview from 2018 with Dutch broadcasters NOS (NOS.NL)

He said he spoke to her because he could tell her his story without being judged, as she didn’t know the people in his life.

He recalled the moment he booked the ticket as a “snap decision”.

Van de Velde

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to the backlash and said he understood why the “****** *******” of his life would resurface.

He said: “I cannot reverse it, so I will have to bear the consequences. It has been the biggest mistake of my life.”

The volleyball player is still banned from speaking to the girl he ****** and is permanently on the ***’s **** offenders register. In 2022, Van de Velde married a ******* volleyball player who is also a former policewoman, and they had a child together in the spring of that year.

Matthew Immers, 23, Van de Velde’s volleyball partner, has come out in

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Immers described him as a “second father” and said he feels comfortable around him.

He said: “I’m 23, he’s 29. He’s also a kind of a second father to me, who supports me. Now we’re going to the Games and it has become a big thing. But everything else has stayed the same.”

Immers and Van de Velde ******* to win their final game before the Olympics in the Elite16 tournament which were held in Vienna, the pair made the quarter-finals and lost against Chile.

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Van de Velde with Matthew Immers during the Beach World Champs Tlaxcala in 2023. (Getty Images)

What has the Dutch Volleyball Association said?

The Dutch Volleyball Association (NeVoBo) has posted a

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statement about the situation titled “Support for Steven van de Velde, who realizes past cannot be erased” and said they fully supported him.

Michel Everaert, general director at the Dutch Volleyball Association, said: “He was convicted at the time according to English law and he has served his sentence. From then on, we have been in constant contact with Steven, who has now been fully reintegrated into the Dutch volleyball community.

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People have been posting on TikTok calling out the decision to let Van De Velde play despite his ***** conviction. (TikTok)

“He is proving to be an exemplary professional and human being, and there has been no reason to doubt him since his return.”

The Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC) told the BBC: “After his release, Van de Velde sought and received professional counselling. He demonstrated to those around him – privately and professionally – self-insight and reflection.”

The IOC told Yahoo News it is not responsible for Van De Velde’s nomination. They wrote: “The nomination of individual team members, following qualification on the field of play, is the sole responsibility of each respective National Olympic Committee.”

The backlash

The outrage began last month when the volleyball association in the Netherlands announced that Van De Velde and Matthew Immers would represent the country.

The news prompted outrage around the world. A petition calling on the Olympics to disqualify Van de Velde has nearly 40,000 signatures. Lauren Muir, who started the petition, said it was born out of a “deep sense of justice”, adding: “It is about more than just one person; it’s about the worldwide image of the Olympics and the kind of society we want to live in.”

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A woman created a petition to ask the Olympics to disqualify Van De Velde. (Change.org)

British charities tackling ********* against women have strongly criticised the Dutch Volleyball Association for Van De Velde’s potential Olympic debut.

The Survivors Trust told Yahoo News that the move to allow Van De Velde to compete in the Olympics shows that there is a “shocking toleration we have of child ******* ******” and called for a zero-tolerance approach.

The group said: “As a society, we have to start embracing a zero-tolerance approach to this heinous and costly ******. His lack of remorse and empathy for his victim is chilling, and the allowance of his colleagues and the Olympic committee to promote him to a young audience as a sports person to look up to and therefore by implication is deeply disturbing.”

Nia, which runs

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, told Yahoo News they were “appalled”. They said that victims suffer from the consequences of ******* ********* for the rest of their lives while Van De Velde gets to be in the Olympics.

“This decision sends a clear and worrying message that the very serious ****** of ******* a child is less important than someone’s sporting skills. The conviction rates for ******* ********* are incredibly low, and yet, even in the face of a conviction, Steven Van De Velde’s career is able to flourish as he is selected to represent his country at the highest level,” they said.

Yahoo News reached out to the Dutch Volleyball Association for further comment.

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