Dutch beach volleyball player and convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde has broken his silence about his controversial inclusion in the Olympics in his first media appearances after the Paris Games. He revealed in an interview that he considered quitting the Olympics but didn’t want to “give others the power to bully me away.”
Van de Velde and his partner Matthew Immers were eliminated from the beach volleyball competition after losing to Brazil in straight sets during the round of 16. The pair played four matches in the tournament and Van de Velde was heartily booed by spectators at each game.
Even before Van de Velde stepped foot in Paris’s Eiffel Tower Stadium, he was the subject of intense scrutiny after sports fans and activists learned he pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old British girl. Petitions sought to have the convicted rapist disqualified from the Games and advocates called for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to investigate how he was allowed to compete.
For its part, the IOC said it was powerless to stop the Dutch Olympic team from sending an athlete who qualified in the usual way.
During the Games, Van de Velde was not able to comment on the outrage swirling around him because he was barred by his national committee from talking to the media, a break from long-standing IOC policy. But now that he is back home in the Netherlands, Van de Velde is speaking out.
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In an interview with Dutch national broadcaster NOS, Van de Velde said he considered quitting the competition both before and during the Olympics.
“I definitely had a moment of breaking down, both before the tournament and during it. But I thought: I’m not going to give others the power to bully me away or get me away,” Van de Velde said.
Nearly every time Van de Velde served the ball during his matches at the Paris Games, spectators in the crowd booed and jeered, though there was some mixed applause from orange-clad Dutch fans. The athlete told NOS the booing had an impact on his ability to play.
“When I think about how much I was busy with peripheral matters … it had an impact,” he said, adding that he talked to a sports psychologist about it, especially when the boos increased during the second match. “It is certainly annoying, I am emotional about it.”
The athlete said he expected there to be backlash but was surprised by the amount of hate he received for competing.
“I think it’s a shame,” he said. “It’s been 10 years, I’ve played more than a hundred tournaments.”
Breaking down in tears during a press conference, Van de Velde bemoaned how his family and his volleyball partner Immers were negatively affected by the hate.
“I did something wrong, 10 years ago. I have to accept that. But hurting people around me — whether it’s Matthew, my wife, my child … that just goes too far for me.”
He accused the British media of publishing articles that included photos of his wife and other personal details, the Telegraph reports.
Van de Velde was convicted in 2016 of three counts of rape after admitting to raping a 12-year-old girl he met online when he was 19 years old. He spent 13 months in prison, 12 months in the U.K. and one month in the Netherlands.
Despite his lawyers lamenting at trial that Van de Velde’s then-burgeoning athletic career was over, the beach volleyball player almost immediately jumped back into competing for the Netherlands. He was back playing internationally in 2017, months after being released from prison.
Van de Velde acknowledged in the NOS interview that critics have a valid reason to question his inclusion in the Olympics.
“I understand that it’s an issue: should someone with such a past be allowed to stand on such a podium. That’s a legitimate question,” he said. “I know this will play a role for the rest of my life. I have to accept that, because I made a mistake.”
Van de Velde is now married and has a young son and he told NOS he’s not the same person he once was. He thanked his family and the Dutch Olympic committee for supporting him, but said that competing in another Olympics may not be worth it.
“It was an intense experience, one that I haven’t fully processed yet,” he said. “Certainly also for my family, so I will certainly take their opinion into account.”
Van de Velde is continuing to compete internationally for the Netherlands. He played his first match in the European Beach Volleyball Championship on Wednesday. The competition started on Tuesday and is running until Aug. 18.
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