Dutch Olympic organizers defend participation of athlete convicted of rape
The Dutch Volleyball Association and Dutch Olympic organizers are standing by their decision to send a man convicted of rape to the Olympic Games in Paris this summer to represent the Netherlands in beach volleyball.
In 2014, the man, Steven van de Velde, now 29, traveled to England, where he raped a 12-year-old girl he met on Facebook. A British court sentenced him to four years in prison in 2016. After a year, he was transferred to the Netherlands, where his sentence was amended to reflect Dutch law. In total, Mr. Van de Velde spent just over a year in prison.
He then received professional guidance, according to the volleyball association.
The Dutch Olympic Committee and the Dutch Volleyball Association allow Mr. van de Velde to participate based on the advice of experts who, according to the association’s website, consider the chance of a repeat violation very low. Mr. van de Velde resumed his beach volleyball career in 2017.
While international news media treated his participation in the Olympic Games with a sense of outrage, the story did not receive much attention in the Netherlands. Dutch news channels largely reported on international media and how they covered the case.
“There was reason, especially abroad, to revive the past of the 29-year-old beach volleyball player,” the volleyball association wrote in a statement on its website.
Sara Alaoui, the founder and director of the Safe Space Club, a nonprofit organization that works with victims of sexual assault, said she was surprised at the lack of coverage of this story compared to other, less important sports news. (For example, the Dutch news media reported on the footballer Memphis Depay wearing a headband (during a recent match.)
Mr Van de Velde has admitted to the crime and told the Dutch news media that it was the worst mistake of his life.
“It’s a big mistake, no one will deny that. I can’t do anything about it anymore,” Mr. Van de Velde said in an interview with NOS in 2018. “I can’t undo it, so I’ll have to bear the consequences.”
Ms Alaoui said she was disappointed in what she called a lack of remorse and introspection from Mr van de Velde. It sends the message that “if you’re a white Adonis, you have less to answer for,” she said.
“If you are truly sorry and this is the biggest mistake of your life, then you have to show why you deserve a second chance,” Ms. Alaoui said. One way would have been to work with organizations that fight against sexual abuse, she said.
“I don’t understand why we deal with this in post-MeToo Netherlands,” she said. “We’re talking about child abuse here.”
The organizers of the Olympic Games were aware of Mr. van de Velde’s history and indicated in their statement that they had spent a lot of time with him.
“When van de Velde now looks in the mirror, he sees a mature and happy man, married and father of a beautiful son,” the Dutch Volleyball Association, Nevobo in Dutch, writes on its website.
Michel Everaert, general manager of the volleyball association, said in a statement: “He has proven to be an exemplary professional and human being and there is no reason to doubt him since his return.”
Mr. van de Velde is not the first Olympian to be convicted of a crime. The most notorious was Tonya Harding, who qualified for the U.S. figure skating team at the 1994 Winter Olympics and was suspected of involvement in an attack on a rival, Nancy Kerrigan. Ms. Harding was allowed to compete, uncomfortably on the same team as Ms. Kerrigan, and came in eighth. She later pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution and was fined and sentenced to probation and community service.
Bruce Kimball was a 1984 silver medalist in diving and hoped to return to the U.S. Olympic team in 1988. Two weeks before the Olympic trials, he drove drunk and struck a group of teenagers, killing two of them. Mothers Against Drunk Driving and friends of the victims objected to his participation in the trials, but he was allowed to compete. He finished fourth and sixth in his two events, failed to make the team, and ultimately served four years in prison.
Victor Mather contributed reporting
