Dutch Volleyball player who raped 12-year-old British girl qualifies for Paris Olympics

[MidnightPatrol]

A beach volleyball player who was jailed for raping a 12-year-old British girl is set to represent the Netherlands at the Paris Olympics.

Steven van de Velde, now 29, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after admitting three counts of rape against a child, which took place in August 2014.

He was allowed to serve his sentence in the Netherlands but was released after just 12 months.

The Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC) told BBC Sport: "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 International Olympic Committee (IOC) said the nomination of individual team members is "the sole responsibility of each respective National Olympic Committee".

https://www.bbc.com/sport/articles/c511yz5ze18o

Should this mean be allowed to compete in the Olympics, given his crimes?

Disgusting. And I am shocked that a country wants to be represented by the likes of him...

I am also shocked that the Olympics don't have a code of ethics for things like this.

Shows how little people actually care about what happens to women and girls.

He is a rapist and a paedophile.

But we wouldn't want to ruin his career would we? He's really really sowwy.

I just read about this. He comes across as entirely unremorseful.

I’m quite sure someone will be along soon to say that he’s served his time and shouldn’t be excluded from society or punished forever more.

I think it’s bloody awful that he’s not still in prison. He does not deserve to be in a position where he is representing his country and being thought of as an athlete to look up to and respect by future players.

I hope the press make a big thing about it and he is met by total silence from the crowds every time he walks out.

Agree. And a black female US athlete is being banned for smoking dope ...

British victim, international competition, a public career? Feels like something anyone can have an opinion on 🙄

He is a predator who sought out and attacked a British child. I think it is very much our business.

This from Wikipedia:

In 2014, he raped a 12-year-old child he met on Facebook who lived in Milton Keynes, England. He travelled to her home and, when she was without any parental supervision, gave her alcohol and then raped her several times.The victim would eventually go on to self-harm and take an overdose.

The safety off all children is every adults business

Oh look, an apologist for a paedophile.

Wow. It's everyone's business. Olympic athletes are held up as heroes and for our young people to aspire to be like them. He's a convicted paedophile and child rapist. This is appalling and the Olympic Committee should surely ban him.

Having briefly googled the case, he was extradited to the UK for the court case and then transferred back to the Netherlands. From an online article: "The sentence was also adjusted to the standards of Dutch law." He was 19 at the time and the age of consent appears to be the same in both countries. Evidently, there is a vast difference between the two legal systems.

How can this man be considered appropriate to represent your country shocking that he has not been banned

I hope there are protests when he is playing

I do believe in rehabilitation but I think this is taking it way too far. He has served his time and should be allowed to live a normal life, but he shouldn’t be able to represent his country in my opinion.

That's horrific. It's not a crime that should be trivialised or the effects on the child dismissed or forgotten. It's shameful. They're not exactly short of people in that country that they couldn't find someone to put up for their Olympic team.

Yeah, that’s the way opinions work. Get over to the thread about Taylor Swift and tell them to all shut up unless they can prove they’re American!

This is absolutely repellant. Representing your country at a major sports tournament is very different to getting a job to support yourself post - sentence and living a quiet life without reoffending.

Is this where "permissive societies" get us?

I don’t want him at the Olympics, but I don’t think that it’s the IOC’s responsibility to manage who each country sends. There were over 11,000 athletes sent to Tokyo and the IOC doesn’t have the time or resources to do a background check on all of them, in the weeks they have available to do it. The IOC are also an organisation who are largely seen as corrupt and useless and giving them more power isn’t a move which I think most would support.

This is all on the NOC, and I think the full support they are putting behind someone who travelled countries to get a child drunk and rape her is shameful. As is the athlete’s statement that we can’t judge as we don’t know his side of the story. I’m perfectly happy to judge him (and also his wife who is a German volleyball player and police officer and married him after this happened).

I’m sure his victim, a British child, disagrees.

What a truly asinine comment. Did you actually engage any kind of brain cells before typing?

I guess the 10% gives you an idea of the number of incels/mras squatting round here. Sad fuckers.

Until very recently sex without consent was not a crime in the Netherlands. For it to be rape it has to be violent.

the Dutch olympics authority seem to be ok with it on the basis that he was convicted under English law (suggesting they don’t see him as having done anything wrong).

its disgusting but so are the Dutch rape law.

This unrepentant rapist should still be in jail
I'm very surprised and disappointed in his country and the Olympics
If I was on the right continent I'd go and protest
Poor girl will be traumatised seeing him on tv etc

I see that it is difficult for the olympics to get involved. Lots of people have committed what are considered serious crimes in their own country which I (and many others ) don’t see as a crime. For example, being gay/talking out against the government etc. I think it’s fair that the Olympic committee doesn’t get involved.

I am very disappointed in the Netherlands but I already was anyway with their rape laws. Sex without consent was recently made a crime, but still isn’t considered rape.

YANBU @MidnightPatrol. I am disgusted at the decision by the Dutch committee to put him on the team and I fear for any children he ends up coaching in the future.

The Olympics should have a code of ethics … a regulated and firm code of ethics and ‘convicted sex offenders’ would be an obvious infringement. Possibly they can usually rely on countries to self regulate as they wouldn’t want their home country being brought into disrepute. Not the case for the Netherlands 😳