Convicted rapist puts beach volleyball in the spotlight at the Olympics

The beach volleyball season at the Olympic Games in Paris begins on Saturday in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The sport is in the spotlight because a Dutch player convicted of rape is taking part in the match.

Steven van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for the rape of an underage girl.

He served part of his sentence in the UK and was then transferred to the Netherlands, where he was eventually released and started playing volleyball again in 2017.

The Netherlands’ decision to nominate the 29-year-old sparked outrage ahead of the Games. According to the Dutch news agency ANP, he will not stay overnight in the athletes’ village in order to “create peace and quiet”.

Officials also said they would take the unusual step of isolating him from his teammates during matches and that he was banned from speaking to the media.

His selection was criticized by women’s and sports safety groups.

Australia announced that it would not nominate anyone with such a criminal record for the Olympic Games.

Van de Velde will take to the sand for the first time with teammate Matthew Immers on Sunday, the second day of beach volleyball, when the Netherlands face an Italian pair.

There will be 24 teams competing in both the men’s and women’s competitions before the number of participants is reduced to 16 for the knockout round. The finals will take place on 9 and 10 August.

– ‘Wow factor’ –

Beach volleyball has become one of the most popular disciplines since it was first included in the Olympic year in 1996.

This time, the event will take place at a temporary venue in the heart of the French capital, at the foot of the “Iron Lady”.

“I don’t mind rubbing it in everyone’s face that we’re playing at the Eiffel Tower,” said Taliqua Clancy, who won the silver medal with the Australian women’s team in Tokyo three years ago.

“It’s just an absolute wow factor,” said US player Kristen Nuss.

The US duo Miles Partain and Andrew Benesh will compete on Saturday against Cubans Noslen Diaz Amaro and Jorge Luis Alayo Moliner in an attempt to take home the first gold medal for the Americans since Beijing 2008.

The US team has high hopes for Chase Budinger, a former NBA player who gave up basketball to become a professional beach volleyball player.

Budinger believes his NBA work ethic is an advantage.

“When I switched to beach volleyball, I learned that many players choose this as a lifestyle rather than a career,” he said.

“I really wanted to convey that this is my job, my sport, and I wanted to treat it like that. That means training five days a week… just doing all the little, tangible things that you don’t see so often in beach volleyball players.”

The women’s tournament also begins on Saturday when China faces Tokyo silver medalists Australia.

China has never won gold in beach volleyball, but with Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi, they have the top seeds and reigning champions of the Asian Games.

The USA is the reigning Olympic champion in the women’s event, while Norway is the defending champion in the men’s event.

rox/pst