An operational athletics test has been held while the quality of the river Seine continues to concern organisers. Video / AP
WARNING: This story deals with sexual offending and may be distressing.
A Dutch beach volleyball player who raped a 12-year-old British girl has qualified for next month’s Paris Olympics, despite being told by a judge that his hopes of representing the Netherlands was a “shattered dream”.
Steven vande Velde was sentenced in March 2016 to four years in prison after admitting three counts of rape against a child he had met on Facebook. He had flown from the Netherlands to the UK in August 2014, when he was 19, to meet his victim.
Judge Francis Sheridan told him: “Prior to coming to this country you were training as a potential Olympian. Your hopes of representing your country now lie as a shattered dream.”
Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands in action. Photo / AP
Except Van de Velde, who was released after serving just 12 months at a Dutch prison, has since been allowed to rehabilitate his Olympic career, this month sealing his spot in the national pair at the Paris Games alongside Matthew Immers.
On sentencing at Aylesbury Crown Court after being extradited from his homeland, his own defence lawyer, Linda Strudwick, said of the verdict: “The headlines say it all: ‘A sex monster.’ It’s plainly a career end for him.”
It has proved anything but, with Van de Velde, now 29, re-establishing his credentials in beach volleyball to such an extent that he and Immer are the 11th-ranked team in the world heading to Paris next month.
Van de Velde’s comeback presents a major moral conundrum for the International Olympic Committee. Every Paris Olympian is required to sign an Athletes’ Rights and Responsibilities Declaration, with point seven demanding: “Act as a role model.”
Having travelled from Amsterdam to Milton Keynes to have sex with a girl he knew was just 12, Van de Velde was condemned in the strongest terms in 2016 by the judge at Aylesbury Crown Court. The court heard that he had gone to the home of the victim, with whom he had communicated on social networks before arranging to visit, while her mother was out and had taken her virginity.
“Your actions have wrecked your life and you could, had you never come to England and committed these offences, have been a leader in your sport,” Judge Sheridan said. “A young, naive, foolish child had formed the view that you loved her. In reality, you only knew her on the internet, had never met her before and were fully aware of the age difference.”
Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands in action. Photo / AP
Upon his release in 2017 after only a quarter of his sentence, Van de Velde, who had wept in court on hearing about the girl’s subsequent self-harm and overdose, said: “I do want to correct all the nonsense that has been written about me when I was locked up. I did not read any of it, on purpose, but I understand that it was quite bad, that I have been branded as a sex monster, as a paedophile. That I am not, really not.
“Everyone can have their opinion about me, but it is only fair if they also know my side of the story.”
These remarks drew a withering response from the National Society for Protection of Cruelty to Children, who said: “Van de Velde’s lack of remorse and self-pity is breathtaking, and we can only begin to imagine how distressed his victim must feel if she sees his comments.
“Grooming can leave a child feeling ashamed or even guilty, because they believe they have somehow willingly participated when, in fact, an adult has preyed upon them in order to sexually exploit them.”
The Dutch Olympic committee have yet to comment on Van de Velde’s qualification for Paris, with The Australian reporting that the country’s volleyball federation are still to ratify their final athlete selections. The IOC has been contacted for a response.
