Netherlands team boss Pieter van den Hoogenband has defended the decision to take convicted rapist Steven van de Velde to the Paris Olympics.
Van de Velde, who was selected in the Dutch volleyball team, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after pleading guilty to raping a 12-year-old girl when he was 19.
He resumed his volleyball career after serving 12 months of a four-year sentence and was named in the Netherlands’ Olympic squad in June.
Van den Hoogenband, a three-time Olympic champion and former world record holder, says ‘measures’ have been taken to facilitate Van de Velde’s participation at the Games, including a blanket ban on media interviews and housing him away from the athletes’ village.
Addressing the controversy over Van de Velde competing at the Olympics, the Netherlands Chef de Mission insisted there was ‘no question’ the volleyball player would be picked and said he was ‘surprised’ by the reaction to his inclusion.
‘Steven has been active in international sports and the beach volleyball world for a long time,’ Van den Hoogenband, who won swimming gold medals at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, told Dutch outlet NOS.
‘He has played in World Cups, European Championships and World Championships, but then you see that things are different around the Games. That things are exaggerated around the Games.
‘We don’t have blinkers on and we don’t close our eyes. I’m the boss, responsible for the whole team, for the athletes. He’s just a member of the team, he qualified, and that’s why he deserves our support.
‘All athletes are dear to me and I try to support them. Steven and Matthew [Immers] are also part of that.’
Asked how Van de Velde has coped with the increased levels of scrutiny ahead of the Paris Olympics, Van den Hoogenband added: ‘I think he reacts well and level-headedly.
‘He’s not going to downplay it. We have to respect it and help him as a member of the team, to be able to perform.
‘I think he is doing well. With respect for all the feelings of other people. I think he has a good focus, with his partner, because they have to do it together. Hopefully we can soon talk about the sport again.’
What has Steven van de Velde’s team-mate said?
Van de Velde’s team-mate Matthew Immers has also defended his fellow volleyball player, describing him as ‘like a second father’.
‘It’s a shame that people talk about him like that,’ the 23-year-old said. ‘I know the Steven of today, and I’m happy about that.
‘He’s a very good partner for me. We have fun and good company on and off the field, that’s the most important thing for me.
‘I feel comfortable with him, we take good care of each other. I’m 23, he’s 29. He’s also a kind of second father to me, who supports me.
‘Now we’re going to the Games and it’s become a big thing. Everything else has stayed the same. So I understand the surprise.
‘But I also understand that this is being picked up by the media, because of course the Olympic Games are so big.
‘Things are said in the media, that is not nice for us. But you have to get the positive out of the negative. That is how we continue together.’
Australia ‘would not pick’ a convicted rapist
Australia chief Anna Meares, meanwhile, has said she would not take a convicted rapist to Paris 2024 amid the controversy over Van de Velde’s participation.
‘If an athlete or staff member had that conviction they would not be allowed to be a member of our team,’ Meares said earlier this week.
‘We have stringent policies on safeguarding within our team.’
What was Steven van de Velde convicted of?
Van de Velde pleaded guilty to three counts of child rape against a 12-year-old girl from Milton Keynes at Aylesbury Crown Court in 2016.
He had met the schoolgirl on Facebook and flew to the UK in August 2014 before travelling to her home in Buckinghamshire, where he sexually abused her. He also raped her at the nearby Furzton Lake.
The court heard how he only stopped when she complained that she was in pain.
Following the attacks, the child suffered emotionally, which led to her self-harming and even overdosing on drugs on one occasion.
The sportsman was aged 19 at the time of the offences and knew how old his victim was – but had told her he was two years younger than he was.
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