Convicted rapist Steven van de Velde nominated for Olympic team

A convicted rapist has been selected to represent the Netherlands in Olympic beach volleyball, sparking outrage over the decision by the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC).

Steven van de Velde, 29, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after being found guilty of three counts of rape of a child.

In August 2014, van de Velde travelled from Amsterdam to the UK and raped a 12-year-old British girl at an address in Milton Keynes. He was 19 when he met his victim through Facebook before arranging the visit. The court heard that van de Velde knew the girl’s age and went to her home when her mother was out.

In England, the judge in van de Velde’s rape trial told him: “Before you came to this country, you trained as a potential Olympian. Your hopes of representing your country are now a shattered dream.”

However, after Van de Velde was released from prison in 2017 after serving only a quarter of his sentence, he resumed his volleyball career in 2018 and has since represented the Netherlands in several international tournaments, according to the NOC, “after an intensive, professionally supervised career”.

The committee also stated that despite his criminal record, van de Velde met “all the qualification criteria” for inclusion in the Olympic team.

Van de Velde will represent the Netherlands in beach volleyball in Paris next month alongside his partner Matthew Immers.

Every participant taking part in the Paris Olympic Games must sign a declaration on the rights and responsibilities of athletes, which, among other things, requires that athletes “act as role models.”

“I would like to know what @BeachTeamNL thinks about Steven Van der Velde fulfilling the requirement to be a 7th Olympian,” writes plaintiff’s attorney Dr. Ann Olivarius on Platform X.

“An age-old story: a talented athletic rapist is given free rein to continue his career as a professional,” writes David Challen, a lawyer specializing in domestic violence cases, on Platform X.

In an interview with Dutch broadcaster NOS in 2018, van de Velde said: “I made this decision in my life when I was not ready. I was a teenager who was still trying to understand things.”

“I was kind of lost and now, aside from the fact that I was in prison, I have so much more life experience.”

After his early release from prison, van de Velde is said to have said: “I was branded as a sex monster, as a paedophile. I am not that, really not.”

At the time, the UK’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children commented on his comments, saying: “Van de Velde’s lack of remorse and self-pity are breathtaking and we can only begin to imagine the despair his victim must feel when she sees his comments.”

“Grooming can make children feel ashamed or even guilty because they believe they have participated voluntarily, when in reality an adult has abused them for sexual exploitation.”