The playing partner of Steven van de Velde, the Dutch Olympian permitted to compete in beach volleyball at the Paris Games despite raping a 12-year-old British girl, has described him as being “like a second father to me”.
Van de Velde refused to answer questions upon arrival in Paris where he was confronted by a Daily Mail journalist. Matthew Immers, the other half of the Netherlands pair, has mounted a staunch defence of his team-mate.
“I feel comfortable with him, we take good care of each other,” he said. “I’m 23, he’s 29. He’s also a kind of a second father to me, who supports me. Now we’re going to the Games and it has become a big thing. But everything else has stayed the same.”
The presence in Paris of Van de Velde, who in March 2016 admitted three counts of rape against a child he had met on Facebook, has sparked ferocious controversy. He had travelled from the Netherlands to the UK in August 2014, when he was 19, to meet his victim. While the judge sentencing him to four years in prison had told him that his Olympic ambitions were a “shattered dream”, he and Immers have since emerged as medal contenders at these Games as the 11th-ranked team in the world.
It seems the Europeans are having a hard time with his selection to play
🟠 Rooting for him!!🟠
🟠 Hope Team Netherlands wins!! 🇱🇺
🟠 Go Orange! 🟠
First, his case was a statutory one and it is possible (even likely) his victim was a willing participant in his crime (despite our fearless lawmakers insistence that she is simply too stupid to make such decisions). Pretty curious that the reporters make no effort to find her and ask her opinion. Or they did and she didn’t have a problem with it, which wouldn’t fit the tone of the story.
Second, I really wish I knew what to do about the prevailing reasoning of today’s world that sex crime victims are exalted and entitled to a stress-free life. That ultimately leads to the idea that any convicted sex criminal is no longer allowed to do anything to his own benefit. We see it frequently – any time a story is published about something positive a registrant does or a bill proposed that eases up on registry obligations and restrictions is always portrayed as “a slap in the face to all sex crime victims.”
Dutch beach volleyball player who was convicted of rape is booed before losing first Olympic match (Yahoo, 28 July 2024)
Here’s what I would like to do (if I had more time). Look up every Olympian participant (mostly from the US since we are the worst when it comes to judging and harassing), and have some scholars who practice law look up everyone’s background. Would be fun to see how many “criminals” are participating, and then ask the media again: “Really, you want to focus on just one crime”?
Not sure if this link works, but here is a list of professional athletes who are criminals. So, you tell me that his offense is the only one to worry about. People wear blinders, and that is what makes them vulnerable.They only see and hear what they want: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_sportspeople_convicted_of_crimes
Dutch beach volleyball player convicted of raping a child speaks out after Olympics inclusion uproar (CNN via Yahoo 15 Aug 2024)
Amazing…he did his time between two countries, reappeared rehabilitated, reintegrated into society, and went far in his sport with the support from those in sports and still has been a model citizen with a “nil” recidivism rate despite the thinking of others who were not fans of the move. If only THIS country could come to grips with that thinking and move along for the betterment of all.
From the article: “Nevobo and the Dutch NOC said in a statement that they supported van de Velde, adding that they, along with the FIVB, had consulted experts who considered his chance of recidivism “nil.”
“After his conviction and sentence, He returned to the highest level of sport step-by-step under the expert guidance of probation and coaching, among others. He has been participating in international tournaments again since 2017,” Nevobo said in a statement.
The Dutch NOC added that van de Velde returned to professional sport on the basis of its guidelines, “which sets out, among other things, the conditions under which athletes in top-level sports can return after a conviction.””