Steven Van de Velde is not just a Dutch volleyball player. He’s not just an Olympic athlete. He is a registered sex offender in the United Kingdom, with three counts of child rape under his name. Much controversy has surrounded his participation in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris because of his criminal history. Before any personal bias, facts are essential.
On August 2, 2014, Van de Velde flew from Amsterdam to London to meet a 12-year-old girl. He first got to know her online, using social media like Facebook, Snapchat, and Skype. Van de Velde claims to have been under the impression that she was 16, but the girl later admitted she was 12. Regardless of the age Van de Velde believed the girl was, he was 19 years old at the time. Even when Van de Velde learned of her age, the Olympic athlete did not cut off contact with the 12-year-old. Van de Velde went to visit her to have intercourse, which he did multiple times. At one point, the young girl complained that Van de Velde was hurting her, only for him to keep going. Before he returned to the Netherlands, he advised her to purchase a morning-after pill due to the lack of protection.
The young girl had gone to a family planning clinic to ask for the right pill, and her age alarmed the professionals working there, leading them to call the proper authorities. After that, the authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. On January 8, 2016, he was extradited to the United Kingdom and pled guilty to the charges against him. He received a sentence of four years in prison in England. After serving one year of his sentence, he was relocated to a prison back in the Netherlands and was released one month later because of the country’s looser ethics and laws revolving around sexual crimes. After being released, he victimized himself by claiming that “I have been branded as a sex monster, as a pedophile, that I am not – really not.”
Fast forward to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The Dutch Olympic Committee selected Van de Velde as a candidate because he consistently met the country’s standards. They support their decision to let him compete because they believe he has served his punishment and is more than qualified. The International Olympic Committee also let him compete. Several officials expressed their discomfort, and these decisions started a lot of tension and uprisings within the games. There was a petition with over 135,000 signatures in an attempt to prevent Van de Velde from playing in the games, but unfortunately, that did not stop anything. Several questions started being asked, such as whether the games were about pride, representation, and caring about the safety of others or if these countries only cared about money and medals.
It is unacceptable and difficult to understand. Your past may not define you, but in certain instances, how does one ignore such crimes of one’s character? It is not a crime like shoplifting or jaywalking. It is rape, and that man is now allowed to represent his country in one of the most prestigious sporting events. His supporters call the incident an “inappropriate holiday romance.” It was child rape.
Works Cited
Camenker, Jacob. “Steven van de Velde Case, Explained: Why Dutch Volleyball Player and Convicted Rapist Is in 2024 Olympics.” Sporting News, 28 July 2024, www.sportingnews.com/us/olympics/news/steven-van-de-velde-dutch-volleyball-player-rapist-2024-olympics/0687523ccb0ffb0820090486.
Roeloffs, Mary Whitfill. “Steven van de Velde-Dutch Athlete Convicted of Child Rape-Cries in First Post-Olympics Interview.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 14 Aug. 2024, www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/08/13/steven-van-de-velde-dutch-athlete-convicted-of-child-rape-cries-in-first-post-olympics-interview/.
Woodyatt, Amy, and Roseanne Roobeek. “Dutch Beach Volleyball Player Convicted of Raping a Child Speaks out after Olympics Inclusion Uproar.” CNN, Cable News Network, 15 Aug. 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/08/15/sport/steven-van-de-velde-olympics-quit-intl-spt/index.html.