Dutch beach volleyball player convicted of rape is booed before losing her first Olympic match

PARIS (AP) — Steven van de Velde, the Dutch beach volleyball player who was in prison for having sex with a 12-year-old girl, received a mixture of boos and applause when he was introduced before playing his opening match at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Van de Velde did not speak to reporters after the three-set loss to Italy, breaking a long-standing IOC policy. “He’s not here because he just wanted to clear his head and just focus on the match,” said teammate Matthew Immers, who said he didn’t notice the crowd’s reaction.

Dutch team spokesman John van Vliet said the decision to grant protection to Van de Velde was made by the National Olympic Committee and communicated to the International Olympic Committee. Asked if they were protecting a convicted child molester, he said: “We are protecting a convicted child molester so that he can play his sport as well as possible and for a tournament for which he has qualified.”

“The general issue of conviction for sexual offenses and sex crimes is definitely more important than sport,” Van Vliet said in the mixed zone after the match. “In his case, we are dealing with a convicted person who has served his sentence and then done everything he can to be able to compete again.”

Van de Velde was convicted in England in 2016 of having sex with a 12-year-old girl. He spent a total of 13 months in prison in the UK and the Netherlands.

The 29-year-old Olympic rookie was greeted with only a few boos as he stepped onto the sand for a warm-up, but the jeers were louder during the more formal pre-match introduction. Immers – and every other player who has appeared on the sand at the Summer Games so far – received nothing but cheers.

There were no further signs of protest at the game, which took place on the first sunny day at the symbolic venue of the Olympic Games at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

The controversy caught the Dutch pair off guard after a two-year qualifying period in which Van de Velde’s record was not an issue, but it resurfaced after the team, ranked No. 2 in the Netherlands, played their way to No. 11 in the world rankings, securing an Olympic spot.

Immers said it was disappointing that the attention given to the case had dominated the discussion about his Olympic debut.

“He’s played many, many tournaments with him for many, many years – the last three years. It was never a problem,” Van Vliet said. “I’m not judging whether it should have been or not, but it was never a problem. And now suddenly it’s a surprise for them.”

The International Volleyball Federation has said it was powerless to stop the Dutch from sending Van de Velde to Paris after he qualified in the usual way. Van de Velde, who does not live in the athletes’ village and could not be reached by media, said earlier that the incident was “the biggest mistake of my life”.

An IOC spokesman echoed the Dutch comments and reiterated what national officials had said about the additional security measures put in place.

“I don’t want to excuse it in any way, but this happened, I think, ten years ago and I think we should fundamentally allow the possibility of rehabilitation,” Mark Adams said at the IOC’s daily press conference.

Van Vliet said the decision not to make Van de Velde available was aimed at keeping the focus on the sporting competition.

“We want to talk about sport, especially about him. We are very conscious that bringing Steven here is not about his sport and his performance,” he said. “We are here to create an environment for all of our athletes to perform well.”

Immers, who like Van Vliet spoke only incomplete English, declined to comment on Van de Velde’s criminal past, saying: “What’s past is past.”

“I think Steven is a really good example the way he is now,” Immers said. “I really enjoy playing with him. What’s in the past is in the past. He had his … punishment and now he’s really, really nice. For me that’s a big example of growth. You’ve learned a lot from it. And of course I don’t know what happened in the past. It’s not good, of course. But right now we’re trying to enjoy it and move on to the next round.”

The security measures for the game were no different than on Saturday, when the Competition opensThe fans’ attention was mainly focused on the crowd-pleasing antics of the Italian Adrian Carambula, whose skyball serve circled high above the Olympic rings that adorned the roof of the arena.

Carambula showed his strength for the fans as he and Alex Ranghieri recovered from a 20-17 deficit and won five points in a row to win the first set. The Dutch won the second set on their first set point and won 21-19.

In the third set, Van de Velde was 13-11 down and served into the net. The Dutch came back to 14-13, but Carambula shot the ball past Immers and won the set.

“I don’t know if we played the best game technically, but we compensated with a lot of energy,” said Carambula, a four-time Olympian who insisted that the controversy over Van de Velde’s criminal record played no role for him before the match.

“We had the crowd on our side and we wanted the win,” he said. “So that was the key.”

Van de Velde’s next match is against Chile on Wednesday. A second defeat would make the path to the knockout rounds more difficult, but not impossible.

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AP Olympiad: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games