Volleyball star who raped 12-year-old British girl is barred from speaking at 2024 Paris Olympics by his country due to outrage

A VOLLEYBALL star convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl is BANNED from speaking to the media at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Steven van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison in the UK in 2016 after being raped two years earlier at the age of 19.

He served part of his sentence in the UK before being transferred to his homeland, the Netherlands, where his sentence was adapted to the norms of Dutch law.

Van de Velde was released in 2017 after only one year in prison and immediately returned to playing beach volleyball.

Last month he was controversially named to the Dutch Olympic team.

The Dutch Olympic Committee, together with Van de Velde and his playing partner Matthew Immers, have taken steps to mitigate the impact of his participation.

Van de Velde, who had fallen out of favor, moved to alternative accommodation in Paris and was banned from speaking to the media.

Mission chief Pieter van den Hoogenband told Dutch television: “He will not downplay it (his conviction).”

“We have to respect that and help him to perform as a team member.”

Kate Seary, co-founder and director of Kyniska Advocacy, an organization that works to protect and respect women in sport, said: “His participation sends a message to everyone that athletic performance is more important than crime.”

Mark Adams, spokesman for the International Olympic Committee, reiterated that the committee had no role in the decision to select Van de Velde.

Adams said: “They made a statement and made it very clear that there are many safeguards, special, additional safeguards.”

Van de Velde flew from the Netherlands to the UK to meet his 12-year-old victim after inciting her via Facebook.

He travelled to Britain to have sex with her, Aylesbury Crown Court heard during his trial almost a decade ago.

The girl had added the Dutch player as a friend on Facebook after he allegedly commented on one of her photos, the court heard.

They then chatted every day on Facebook, Snapchat and Skype before he visited her in Milton Keynes in 2014.

The girl told her family that she was staying with a friend and sneaked out to try to meet the 19-year-old at a hotel.

When they couldn’t make an appointment, they went to Furzton Lake in the city, drank Baileys and she performed sexual acts on him.

The couple slept in cardboard boxes under a stairwell at the Premier Inn because they couldn’t get a room afterwards.