Crowd boos convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde during beach volleyball

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Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde, a convicted child rapist, was greeted with boos as he made his Olympic debut in Paris.

Van de Velde, 29, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after admitting three counts of rape of a 12-year-old British girl.

He served only 12 months of his sentence and some fans of the Olympic competition in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower expressed their disapproval.

Reactions to Van de Velde were mixed, with his arrival alongside teammate Matthew Immers for their match against Italian pair Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula being greeted with cheers and boos.

Unlike his competitors, there was no cheering when Van de Velde was introduced to the crowd, and here too some boos were clearly audible.

Van de Velde met his victim through Facebook, travelled from Amsterdam to the UK in 2014 and raped the girl at an address in Milton Keynes.

It is assumed that he will not be in the Olympic Village at his own request and will not give the usual interviews in the mixed zone after the game.

The Dutch Olympic Committee believes that Van de Velde has been successfully rehabilitated and deserves his place in the squad.

But Rape Crisis England & Wales described his participation in the Games as “shocking”.

The International Olympic Committee is facing calls for an investigation into how a convicted child sex abuser was allowed to compete in the 2024 Paris Games, but the committee insists it has no plans to bar the Dutchman from taking part in the Games.