Should Stephen van de velde be in the Olympics?

[soready]

He pre-planned and raped a child, and is now celebrated by his fans in the Olympics do you feel this is right or do you think he's served one year of his sentence so he'd paid for his crime?

The Olympics are done for another 4 years.

He's not in the Olympics. He was, but isn't anymore

The issue for me is the ludicrously short sentences for sexual abuse. I think that he should have been in jail for a considerably longer time and whilst in jail should have had to engage in serious therapy to help understand why he even thought of doing what he did and then more therapy to try to ‘undo’ whatever is wrong with him.

However I also believe that the criminal justice system should be the end point and once convicted and time served, if the state releases you then society can’t then impose more restrictions on how you earn a living as long as it’s legal or unless you are a threat to society (in which case you should have been released anyway)

Are you just catching up, watching on Sky or player, because the olympics finished last week and this was probably discussed on a 1000 other mumsnet AIBU during the olympics.

Of course he shouldn't have been included as an athlete. But just goes to show that international glory is more important for that country than his crime.

You can earn a living without competing in the Olympics.

There are loads of professions you can't do anymore after you've had a criminal conviction. Solicitors have been struck off the roll for much less serious offences than child rape.

Came onto say what @Iwasafool and @JustJoinedRightNow Said!

He had a longer sentence for rape in the U.K. he was sent back to the Netherlands to compete his sentence and they changed the charge to something less than rape/didn’t recognise the rape of the child so he had his sentence cut. So it says more about the Netherlands not recognising a man raping a 12 year old. They slept outside a hotel in cardboard boxes. He told her to go and get the morning after pill and that’s when the crime was recognised and she got help.

The judge who sentenced him expected that this would end his olympic career. Apparently his country felt otherwise.

Yes, part of the shorter sentence was that he was expected to lose his career which would add to the penalty- but he didn't!

The Olympics was so beautiful in Paris, but marred completely by this and the other issues.

He wasn't even allowed to go near the Olympic Village as there were children there 🤦‍♀️

Why should the olympics be a profession from which ex offenders with spent convictions are barred though?

No he should not have been.

They banned the woman who hit the horse, but not the child rapist?

The horse woman was banned by International Federation for Equestrian Sports. I don't suppose they have much say in volley ball.

Because it's an honour to represent your country. An honour which child rapists do not deserve.

I think someone who is a paedophile should be banned from being near or working with children. However I think once their sentence is served they should be allowed to work in fields non child related. In this instance it’s sports, and he is good enough to qualify for the Olympics.

So for me, I think yes in balance it should ne about the sport .Otherwise where does it stop.

That’s not how athletes qualify. It isn’t about who deserves it. It’s about who is the best athlete .

It should be about who is the best athlete, subject to those people being able to conduct themselves with minimum standards of basic decency so as not to bring shame on their country.

Not only is that not how qualification works, the idea of what is 'honouring' a country varies so much between countries that I'd not like this to even come into it.

How many women or LGBT athletes could then be excluded for 'dishonourable conduct' when competing? It was only in 2012 that Saudi Arabia sent its first women competitors, following pressure from the ICC. If an 'honour' code was promoted, I'm sure this would be rowed back tout suite.

Wtf did you seriously just compare being a lesbian to being a child rapist?

It doesn’t say much for a country which actively chooses a paedo rapist to represent it. Sports people are ambassadors for their country.

No, and if you have really got the comprehension skills of a teaspoon then there's no point in any of us responding to your comments going forward.

Try reading again.

I understand the principle of rehab (which was the reasoning given for his participation) however when it comes to some convictions (sexual offences against children being one) then no, absolutely not.

I think the blame for this should land entirely with the Dutch Volleyball association who not only allowed him to compete, but supported him, tried to drum up sympathy for him and said the backlash was only because we hadn’t hear his side of the story. There are 11,000+ athletes in the Olympics and the IOC cant be expected to run background checks on all of them. Each country chooses who represents them, and if the a Dutch choose a child rapist, that’s on them and I don’t think the IOC should be involved, but I can judge everyone everyone who was a part of supporting his selection.

No of course he shouldn't. Shame on the Dutch authorities for not banning him from competing and even more shame on the Olympics bodies for having low ethical standards and twisted values.

Fuck No