IOC: “Act as a role model”
Convicted rapist competes in Olympic Games
01.07.2024, 11:57 a.m.
Steven van de Velde will compete in beach volleyball at the Olympic Games. This has led to harsh criticism, as the Dutchman raped a twelve-year-old girl ten years ago and was convicted for it. His nomination contradicts the IOC’s guidelines and is morally indefensible, according to the allegations.
When the beach volleyball players compete for medals in front of the Eiffel Tower at the Olympic Games, the team Matthew Immers and Steven van de Velde will compete for the Netherlands. And that is causing a huge outcry – because van de Velde is a convicted sex offender.
Ten years ago, when he was 19, he traveled to Milton Keynes in England. He had met a girl on Facebook and visited her. She initially pretended to be 16. Then she admitted that she was just 12 years old. After breaking off contact, van de Velde later tried to be friends again. When her mother was not at home, he visited the English woman. He gave her alcohol and raped her three times. In August 2014, he admitted to the rape, and in 2016 he was found guilty by an English court. Sentenced to four years in prison.
When announcing the verdict, the British judge said: “Before you came to this country, you trained as a potential Olympian. Your hopes of representing your country are now a shattered dream.” But things will probably turn out differently.
Van de Velde spent a year in England before being transferred to the Netherlands – and there spent another month in prison. Because in the Netherlands, unlike in England, sexual intercourse with a twelve-year-old is not automatically considered rape, van de Velde’s prison sentence was adjusted to the local legal system. After 13 months, he was a free man again.
In July 2018, after his release from prison, Van de Velde told the Dutch broadcaster NOS: “I can’t undo it, so I will have to face the consequences. It was the biggest mistake of my life.” He was a teenager and “was still trying to understand things.” He had had difficulties at the time.
Sentence served, he is free
An important part of the legal system is the right to rehabilitation and forgetting. Anyone who has served their sentence is a free person and should be treated like everyone else. In principle, there is nothing to prevent van de Velde from taking part in the Olympic Games. However, as an athlete on the international stage, he is a public figure and reports about his past are legitimate.
And so a storm of indignation swept over him and the Dutch volleyball association Nevobo. “No pedophile or child rapist should represent a nation at the Olympic Games. For the survivors, it is a slap in the face when a rapist is applauded as if nothing had ever happened,” writes lawyer Charlotte Proudman in “X”.
And then there is the “Declaration of Rights and Responsibilities of Athletes” of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). This must be signed by athletes before participating in the Olympic Games. Point seven of this states: “Act as a role model, including by promoting clean sport.” Referring to this, the American-British lawyer Ann Olivarius writes: “I would like to know how the Dutch association can believe that Steven van de Velde meets the seventh requirement for Olympic participants.”
In England, a woman started an online petition calling for the 29-year-old to be excluded from the Paris Games. The Survivors Trust, a British umbrella organisation that coordinates and promotes support for victims of sexual crimes, told Sky News UK: “The rape of a child was planned, calculated and involved international travel and will undoubtedly cause lifelong trauma for its victim and irreversibly change the course of their life.” And continued: “The permission of his colleagues and the Olympic Committee to present him to a young audience as an athlete to look up to is deeply disturbing.”
Association defends van de Velde
The association and van de Velde have issued a statement entitled: “Support for Steven van de Velde, who realises that the past cannot be erased.” In it, the beach volleyball player says: “I also think back to the teenager I was, who was insecure, not ready for a life as a top athlete and unhappy inside because I didn’t know who I was and what I wanted.”
Nevobo General Director Michel Everaert defended the nomination: “We know Steven’s story.” They had had intensive discussions with the International Volleyball Federation and the Dutch Olympic Committee. “Since his return, he has distinguished himself as a model professional and exemplary person.” And the Dutch Olympic Committee also responded to the criticism and told BBC Sport: “After his release, van de Velde sought and received professional advice. He demonstrated self-awareness and reflection to those around him – both privately and professionally.”
In his private life, van de Velde has found happiness; he has been married to former German beach volleyball player Kim Behrens since 2022 and the two have a child. Contrary to what the British judge thought, van de Velde has also fought his way back in sport and earned his ticket to Paris. He has only been playing with Immers since 2023; the two quickly came together as a team and are celebrating their greatest success with the Olympic qualification. Morally, however, many question the duo’s participation because of van de Velde’s past.