Paula Radcliffe wishes "good luck" in Olympics to man who raped 12 year old girl

[SureJanOK]

I think the title of my thread says it all.

BBC pundit Paula Radcliffe wishes Dutch volleyball player who was jailed for raping a 12-year-old 'the best of luck' at the Paris Olympics... and rejects claims he should not compete | Daily Mail Online

Exactly! She's explained what she meant, she was actually trying to make the exact opposite point to the way it came across, and yet here we have all these women vilifying another woman, rather than the man who's actually at fault and the people who've allowed this situation to happen.

And Fern. What had Fern done to be hated so much?

What did Fern Britton and Tom Daley do, must have missed that!

I didn't see it and know nothing about her and the guy in question,
Think I rem when she pee'd during a race, I'd that the same woman?

Maybe she was in auto pilot & used to wishing people well.
tho I know I've said things before on auto pilot or out of habit.

Maybe she was in auto pilot & used to wishing people well.
tho I know I've said things before on auto pilot or out of habit.

I don't think she was on auto pilot. It was quite a personalised statement.

She didn't just go 'good luck in the Olympics! Whoop whoop!'

Lol, how is she carrying the can for a male crime??

She is being criticised for her own, strong view about something. She has capacity, she didnt speak without all of the information available to her, she wasnt told what to say

Therefore she will carry the can for what she said.

How could she possibly condone him being part of the Netherlands beach volleyball team ?

How can Dutch people bear to have him representing them in the Olympics ?

I'm not a fan of the Olympics.
Sadly all the doping scandals through the years have made me cynical.
I can't tell a "clean" Olympian from a cheating one.

I'm much more furious about Tom Daly being allowed to carry the flag and the volleyball player being allowed to compete.

If someone has committed a crime and served their time though, why shouldn't they compete in the Olympics, if the crime has nothing to do with the fairness of the actual competition (like dealing performance enhancing drugs or something)? Are only nice people allowed to be good at sports?

I don't think it's the same as missing drugs tests, which imply the person is cheating and trying to win unfairly. Nor is it like Charlotte whose actions were directly related to her sport. He's not trying to use the Olympics to access young children - presumably he's not allowed to be around children alone anymore?

Obviously I think the crime is vile but I don't connect it with his eligibility.

oh if you still have the address i'd like to write to them.

FWIW: i read that at the time he was sentenced the judge acknowleded that this conviction and jailtime would end his sporting and olympic career and that is why it was a mild sentence - the loss of his sporting career and olympic dream was part of the punishment. A part he has not served, in this case.

My favoured outcome is that his sporting overlords acknowledge and recognise this and deselect him on those grounds (they won't) and so i would prefer a warrant for his arrest (or however the wheels of justice turn) to serve out the rest of his jail term - so that he may at least never come to the uK again.

Can see your point about the others but what's Fern done?

Appalling.

So very sick of women and girls being repeatedly shown that whatever harm a man does to them, whatever wreckage he selfishly makes of his life in pursuit of a happy dick, the most important thing is that he doesn't suffer any consequences he wouldn't like, because HIS life matters.

If the pride of Netherlands is a child rapist then God help the Netherlands.

And Radcliffe is either staggeringly daft or staggeringly sexist. Not really interested as to which. But this whole 'women are subhuman' shit really needs to be stamped on now.

[email protected]

Yes, but that's not at all the response I got, whixh im sure os a standard reply to the 100s of mails they've had. .

"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 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 Records, 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."

What has Tom Daley done - and why are people upset he’s a flag bearer?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/4788157.stm

Her priorities and morals seem completely out of whack. For those who saw the BBC Linford Christie documentary last night and saw how vague his doping conviction was (post his retirement), the link above is what she had to say about him coaching other athletes.

So a contested 2yr suspension from competition makes you immoral and unfit to be part of sport, but being a peadophile is fine...?!

thanks. I want to ask them specifically about the reason for his mild sentence, because it doesn't fit their narrative. His sentence was actually laughably short.

Unfortunately a woman publicly supporting a convicted rapist and peadophile will be used as an excuse by rapists, peadophiles and followers of tate etc to justify their own views. Just like racists who claim to have a black friend.

Yes some awful people will happily clap and support a rapist peadophile, however you would think they would at least have the sense to not share their praise with the world.

I really like volleyball, I won’t be watching any that includes his team, hopefully there will be a lot of very vocal people in the crowd when he plays.

Lots of atheletes are actual children, lots of the crowd will be actual children, he isn’t safe to be there and I very much hope he has extremely restricted access to the internet and mobile phones in general.

I had planned on watching the opening ceremony but if Tom Daley is our flag bearer I'll boycott it.

Regarding he's "served his time", my understanding was that he serves 1 year of a 12 year sentence.
And regarding "he's a reformed character and no longer poses a risk", he's not allowed to stay at the Olympic Village but is being put up separately in a hotel somewhere else, due to the presence of 14 and 15 yr old athletes at the Olympic Village... to whom he clearly still poses a risk.
Regarding Paula Radcliffe, well she's a grade A twat isn't she.

Why?

To be fair to any PR person involved, she was so clear in her answer (and gave additional facts which showed clearly that she knew the case that was being talked about) that I don't see how anyone could reasonably walk it back in a way that was convincing.

Just so people are clear he was sentenced to four years for child rape in UK and actually served one year in the Netherlands. "Done his time" seems to be doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Not sure what the rehabilitation was, but sentenced in 2016 and on the team by 2017, crime and conviction has been far from career ending.

I think he was sentenced for 4 years per offence, so 12 years in total. (According to Tom Swarbrick on LBC yesterday)

Paula Radcliffe is a rape apologist. It makes me furious that women in positions of influence collude in defending rapists and paedophiles.

PS OP I think you mean Ian Watkins from Lost Prophets not H from Steps

What has Tom Daley done, or H?