The Dutch Olympic team has explicitly admitted that they are protecting Steven van de Velde, the beach volleyball player who made his Games debut here on Sunday despite being convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl when he was 19, from speaking publicly about his past.
“We are protecting a convicted child rapist, yes,” said press attaché John van Vliet after Van de Velde was allowed to shirk his media obligations following the event. “To play his sport as best as possible, in a tournament he qualified for.”
It was a stunning statement on a day like no other. Olympic Games Van de Velde, 29, who was sentenced in 2016 to four years in prison on three counts of raping a girl he had met on Facebook, was roundly booed. when he stepped onto the pitch for his first match in the shadow of the Eiffel Towerwhich he and teammate Matthew Immers would lose to Italy. But the most extraordinary scenes came afterwards, when Van de Velde was quickly escorted away by three security guards, leaving Immers and Van Vliet to face a withering inquisition by more than 50 journalists.
Although International Olympic Committee rules require all athletes to present themselves to the media after competing, Van Vliet acknowledged that a special exception had been made for Van de Velde. “It’s definitely created a different situation for Steven,” he said. “We are very aware that if we bring Steven here, it won’t be for the sport or for his performance. There was a time before this, at least in 100 beach volleyball tournaments, when this was never brought up. He never had to do anything about it. So we wanted to create the environment that we are used to and not make it extra special on a stage that is even bigger for these players.”
But a central issue is that Olympians must meet a higher standard than at other tournaments. All athletes in Paris must sign a declaration promising that they will act as “role models.” Given the nature of his crime, Van de Velde will probably not, in the eyes of many, live up to that description.
“The general issue of convictions for sexual or sex-related offences is certainly a much bigger issue than sport,” Van Vliet acknowledged. “But in his case, we have a person who was convicted, who served his sentence and who did everything he could afterwards to be able to compete again.”
Although measures had been taken to keep Van de Velde away from the Olympic village, the Dutch delegation revealed that he continued to go to their facilities for team meetings. As bodyguards rushed him out of the premises to avoid being examined, his teammate Immers, 23, was left to offer an awkward defence of his participation in the Games.
“He got his punishment,” Immers said. “And now he’s very nice. For me, he’s a great example that you can grow. What happened in the past is not good, of course.” Asked if Van de Velde had ever expressed remorse for his dark history in private conversations, he replied: “No, he doesn’t. He doesn’t explain it. We just want to focus on the present.”