Dutch volleyball player who raped 12 year old British girl qualifies for Olympics

Apologies, I've phrased that badly and it may seem accusative, that wasn't my intent.

Please substitute: 'if you are considering' for 'from the pov of'.

If you look at it from the pov of the rapist.

If you look at it from the pov if the girl it's another story.

This comes down to philosophical stances on crime and punishment and ideas around punitive versus rehabilitative justice.

If someone commits a hideous crime, goes to prison, is rehabilitated should they be able to live a life equal to others who never committed a crime? I expect some would say absolutely, some would say absolutely not, and others would say they should have some limits placed on them (so they have equality in some aspects of life but not others).

I got exactly the same but in Dutch! Its obviously a copy and paste.

Got a reply from Dutch Olympic comms

We sincerely thank you for your response. We are deeply aware that the renewed publicity about Steven van de Velde is causing a lot of emotion, which we fully understand, as the events at that time were very serious.
A lot has happened since then. Steven van de Velde served his sentence and has completed an extensive rehabilitation program with specialized professionals, including the probation service. During this process, Van de Velde has shown that he has grown and that he has positively changed his live. Experts have concluded that there is no risk of recidivism. In 2018, he gave a some interviews about his offence and its consequences. (Please take a moment to watch the w_ that Steven gave to Dutch national television).
The Dutch national volleyball federation (Nevobo) as well as the Dutch National Olympic Committee (NOCNSF) have closely monitored Steven’s progress and explicitly followed the advice of experts. This process has been fully in line with the Dutch Guidelines Integrity Recordss_, which set out the conditions that must be met by athletes to be given a second chance after a conviction.
Steven has been given this second chance and has been participating (since 2017) on international elite sport level. Throughout this time, he has consistently met the high standards set by the volleyball federation and NOCNSF.
Based on all of the above and after careful consideration, NOC*NSF has decided to select Steven van de Velde for the Olympic Games in Paris.

Yours sincerely,
Lieselot Meelker
Corporate communications NOC*NSF

Fuck them and their poxy shitty games.

They keep repeating that he has shown contrition/made amends. But all of the examples (sporting success, happy marriage to an attractive woman, kids) are just signs his life has gone well/things he has done that benefit him.

E.g. I am really sorry I killed your cat Susan last year, but I bought myself a house and got a really good promotion at work since then. So as you can see I've done my best to make amends.

Also on what planet is "he can't be a pedophile, he has a young family" make any sense.

I'm tempted to say that its rooted in Calvinism/the idea that success in life is an outward sign of your worthiness as a person (and on the flip side people doing badly deserve it), but that might be over-analysing thee situation.

Married and a father.

The ‘really not a paedophile’. So much self reflection and insight there eh?

The Dutch Olympic committee have doubled down and IOC have, predictably, said 'nowt to do with me Guv'

www.telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2024/06/27/dutch-olympics-committee-defend-selection-of-rapist-volleyb/

https://archive.ph/cXcWH if he plays I hope he gets a volley of abuse.

How the hell are you advocating on behalf of an adult who groomed and raped a child, @ageratum1?

So in your world, it is OK for a man to groom and multiply rape a child, serve only 12 months of a mere 4 year sentence, and then go blithely on with his life, representing his country in an international sport? REALLY?!. That is sick.

“VisitationRights · Today 13:14
I cc’ed the BOA on my complaint email and they are the only association to reply (nothing from the Netherlands or France or ioc):

Thanks your for your email and expressing your concern. We are aware of the situation and have expressed our own concerns on what we see as a very serious matter.”

I am glad they at least responded that way. Thank you for the update.

Although they are both in Schengen Agreement there is nothing to stop the French Authorities banning him from entering.

Potentially I suppose if all Schengen Agreement nations ie most of the EU were to bar him from entry it would be an almighty own goal for him

Well that's something I suppose.

I cc’ed the BOA on my complaint email and they are the only association to reply (nothing from the Netherlands or France or ioc):
Thanks your for your email and expressing your concern. We are aware of the situation and have expressed our own concerns on what we see as a very serious matter.

But to answer Godley's question - he can use literally any toilet he wants to according to official NOC-NSF policy.

I deliberately DIDN'T mention the NOC-NSF 's transgender policy on this thread, because it isn't the main topic - and condoning the rape of a child manages to overshadow even that. However, predictably, it is about as kind to women/girls as their policy on rape: guideline-gender-and-sex-in-sport-online-engels.pdf (nocnsf.nl)

But even if they had the most sensitive, most pro-women and pro-safety policies out their and I thought they were absolutely fantastic, their decision to centre a child-rapists needs would still cancel everything else out. We can be angry about more than one thing at a time.

Actually maybe Dutch sports misogyny needs its own special thread to avoid derailing this one.

I've managed to sign the petition now, I had trouble trying on the ship.

Janey Godley has decided to use this horrendous decision as some kind of gotcha moment for her pro-trans argument. As well as being factually false (as this now 9-page discussion proves) does anyone else find it really off that someone uses the rape of a 12 year old to try to prove a point about something unrelated that they are obsessed with? I now have at least two people I follow who’ve shared JG’s post with emphatic support. How can they think it’s ok?JG Twitter post

Shame on the Dutch and everyone else enabling this rancid excuse for a man.

Thank you for the petition link, I've duly signed. Convenient for the Netherlands that the Olympics is in Europe this year as if it was being held in many other countries it's unlikely he'd be allowed in. This just shows that progressive is not often for the benefit of children and women.

Not the poster you’re responding to and I don’t support the decision but he is very good. I can 100% see why he would be picked by the national team. Unfortunately, this is also an echo chamber as the wider British public probably don’t know enough and the Dutch don’t care.

He's a paedophile.

There's no point contacting the IOC:

"The nomination of individual team members, following qualification on the field of play, is the sole responsibility of each respective National Olympic Committee."

However the Dutch NOC email is
[email protected]

It might be worth contacting them.

There will definitely be kids there, e.g. Sky Brown, GB skateboarder, 15, probably quite a few swimmers from various countries, divers (Tom Daley was 14 at his first Olympics) I think gymnastics is 16 now but even so, there will be a lot of under 18s. Where is the safeguarding.