To boycott the Olympics for allowing a rapist to compete

[Fluffyelephant]

I cannot believe in this day and age a convicted child rapist has been allowed to compete in the Olympics.

I know he was booed when he was competing but that's not enough. He never should have been allowed to compete in the first place and as a result I'm not watching any of the Olympics and encouraging others to do the same. I know that means other legitimate athletes will sadly be punished for the actions of one man and the decision makers for the Olympics - but what else can you do to send a message it's unacceptable?

For context, the volleyball player raped a 12 year old girl in Britain who he met online when he was 19 and was convicted in 2016. To add further insult to injury he only served 1 year of the sentence and seems to have gone on to marry a police officer!? He also has since said he's not a pedophile (although admits he did do what he was accused of) and that the media saying he is one is 'a load of nonsense'.

Unbelievable that this isn't considered more serious in a country like the Netherlands or by the Olympics itself.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/articles/cpd9e0r2dxmo

You would think if he has to be barred from Olympic Village for safeguarding reasons that would be sufficient for him to not be allowed to compete.

The IOC do not value a horse over a child because the IOC have at no point been involved in the withdrawal/suspension of Charlotte Dujardin. That was done by UKs Equestrian Regulatory Body.

👏🏻

I don't think they are allowed to do that. Plus they trained for 4 years to win "fairly" against them.

Having the view that the individual can compete in the Olympics does not make the person an apologist for them, we are all entitled to views without hurling insults.

I find it odd that people seem to think that just by being in the Olympics he is being 'lauded on the world stage' or similar as if he's got some amazing honour/everyone loves him automatically. By competing in the Olympics he has become more worldwide famous and known for being a child rapist than he ever will be for his sporting exploits.
I actually have more of a problem with men like him fading back into normal life as if nothing ever happened and even if people occasionally find out he's on the register, the man can act like the details are unfortunate/"not how it sounds". Not this time. He is now a famous child rapist, with the details known, and is being rightly vilified for it, on the world stage.

People respect Olympic athletes generally because of their character, discipline and hard work. So people also will not respect someone of disgusting character whether he's good at volleyball or not

@LittleLeggs so in that case you think he's buzzing off the notoriety?

Because he's already served prison time

Heh? How did you get that from what I said?

I don't really care, I can't control his emotions or screwed up way of thinking in the same way I can't control that there will be the odd few people that are apologists for him (his wife and friends etc)... But the vast majority of people vilify him for it and I find some comfort in that, that evil people are called out in the media and public consciousness and there will be fewer people out there thinking he's a "good man" (of course there will always be a few sickos on his side and we can't change that).

Ah yes, 12 months is a perfect sentence for what he has done.

The child rapist has also effectively taken a spot that could have gone to another Dutch athlete, one presumably who hasn't abused children.

Plenty of Dutch people disagree with this decision. This is what you get when you systematically exclude women from sport. At the previous Olympics only 13% of coaches were women, and until 2013 less than 20% of the IOC members were women - it's only been about 40% since November last year.

I am deeply disappointed with the actions of the Dutch Volleyball Association and the Dutch Olympic Committee. It's quite a lot like what happened with the Dutch Eurovision candidate - somehow their national media seems to believe what they're told by PR people. It's what can happen in small countries where everyone knows each other and they don't want to rock the boat or lose an interview.

The guy's Dutch language Wikipedia page got locked by an admin (male sounding name) who insisted it wasn't rape because it had a different name in Dutch law at the time - fortunately plenty of Dutch speakers disagreed and it got amended (somewhat).

Absolutely. I am glad to see the majority of Mnetters on this thread are revolted by this.

And in a way I'm ok that it has exposed the sympathy, minimisation and apologism granted to child rapists.

Thank you @Fluffyelephant.

Someone who makes the decision to rape a 12 year old.. it just doesn't matter that he served his sentence. He should be forever limited from certain things in life.
I'm so disgusted by this. And continually disgusted by rape and paedo apologists

I don't think anyone is denying that rape is an appalling crime.

Rape is bad enough but this is with a child fgs. The man should have disappeared into the ether not brought the Olympics into disrepute.

Because the question was should people refuse to watch the Olympics because of this guy competing.

I'm not going to stop watching the Olympics because of him, and I doubt the YANBU voters will either, despite what they voted!

This. A 12 year old cannot consent. They can be groomed and raped. The lifetime trauma of what he did to her will never go. He gets supporters, minimisation and claps. Strange standards some have.

@ToniGreen Exactly.. disappeared into the ether. Not given these opportunities and lauded about on tv.. what message is that giving? That we should forgive child rapists and their lives won't be too affected after the crime. They should be living an isolated life shunned by society and on all kinds of registers

He served his sentence. If he was released early that was the state's decision that he'd paid his debt. Trump is relevant because it illustrates how 150m people can suddenly not care about rape, when it suits them. This is just a social media pile on.

@capstix Paid his debt 😂 he will NEVER finish paying the debt. She will pay it for her whole life.

That's absolutely revolting. I don't watch the olympics anyway but that's disgusting. What the hell js going on?

Someone had a bit of fun with Wikipedia

The point is that he is free and not locked up, if he were in a role that required DBS n this country then he would not be able to get a job. However, he could get other jobs in this country as that is the law , also it is good that offenders can gain employment and be active in work. The Olympics does not have restrictions, individual countries may have , I don't know,

😂😂
The irony is that if he had stayed out of the Olympics far fewer people would know about his crimes.

You’d be better off boycotting the Netherlands seeing as it’s their decision to allow him to compete, not the Olympics.