Topline
Dutch volleyball player Steven van de Velde, who sparked global controversy for being allowed to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics despite his child rape conviction, broke down and cried Tuesday in his first post-Olympics interview where he discussed attacks on his family and teammate surrounding the games.
Steven Van De Velde in the men’s pool B beach volleyball match in Paris on July 31, 2024.
Key Facts
Van de Velde, who competed with Matthew Immers as a beach volleyball player in Paris and did not medal, was met with boos at his matches, avoided the Olympic Village and, unlike most athletes, did not participate in post-game interviews.
The Dutch athlete admitted to having sex with a 12-year-old girl after meeting her online in 2014, when he was 19, and has called the incident “the biggest mistake of my life.”
On Tuesday, Van de Velde was interviewed at a press conference in his home country of the Netherlands and broke down crying over his Olympic experience and the hate directed toward his family, which he said was bad enough to likely cause his retirement from the sport.
The athlete said his 2-year-old son’s “future is more important to me than my career” and said he would “think carefully about the future.”
He blamed the British media for his tough experience, and said articles were published that used photos of his wife, his father’s name and his previous address, personal details he said “goes beyond boundaries.”
Van de Velde also said he was grateful for those who supported him at the games.
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Crucial Quote
“I did something wrong, 10 years ago – I have to accept that,” Van de Velde said Tuesday. “But hurting people around me – whether it’s Matthew, my wife, my child… that just goes too far for me. That’s definitely a moment where I thought, is this worth it?”
Key Background
Van de Velde pleaded guilty to three counts of rape against a child for events that occurred in 2014. He flew from Amsterdam to London in 2014 to meet with a 12-year-old girl he’d met online, The Athletic reported, then had sex with her and advised her to get a morning-after pill. Staff at a family planning clinic then alerted her family and the police. In 2016, he was sentenced in England to four years in prison. He served one year in Britain before he was transferred to the Netherlands and released one month later. Had he been tried in his home country, The Guardian reported, he likely would not have been convicted of rape and instead his actions would have been considered the lesser crime of “ontucht,” sexual actions that violate social-ethical norms. Van de Velde resumed his volleyball career after his release. He qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics in his national pair with Immers, which immediately sparked controversy around the world and forced a spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee to comment and defend his inclusion. Mark Adams, spokesperson for the IOC, told reporters that while the committee was not necessarily “comfortable and happy” with the decision, the IOC deferrs to national Olympic committees to choose their own athletes and acknowledged the Dutch committee did its due diligence in allowing Van de Velde to compete.
Chief Critics
A petition with more than 135,000 signatures started circulating before the Games, calling on the International Olympic Committee to ban him from participating. “This is about more than just one person; it’s about the worldwide image of the Olympics and the kind of society we want to live in,” petition author Lauren Muir wrote. Groups in support of rape victims have been vocal about their disagreement with the decision to allow Van de Velde to compete, with the U.K.-based Survivors Trust group calling it an “endorsement of the shocking toleration we have of child sexual abuse.” USA Today reporter Gentry Estes called Van de Velde’s the ” nastiest storyline” of the Olympics.
Contra
One GBNews commentator has been met with backlash on X after she seemed to defend the circumstances of Van de Velde’s relationship with the minor, and The Guardian noted the circumstances haven’t stirred up much controversy in his home country. The news of a convicted rapist playing for the Dutch team hasn’t made the front pages in the Netherlands according to The Guardian, nor has it spurred columns or editorials the way it has abroad. The Netherlands’ Olympic Committee defended the choice to let Van de Velde play by noting he’d served his sentence, completed a rehabilitation program and was determined to be at no risk of reoffending. The volleyball federation called Van de Velde “an exemplary professional and human being.” On a recent GBNews segment in England, commentator Emma Woolfe seemed to defend the circumstances of Van de Velde’s relationship with the victim. She said he was “a few years older than her” at the time and called the incident a “very inappropriate holiday romance.” She added that Van de Velde would have been able to “carry on with his job in any other walk of life.” Ofcom, the broadcasting regulatory agency of the U.K., is looking into complaints received over the segment.
Further Reading
Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes reporter who covers breaking news with a frequent focus on the entertainment industry, streaming, sports news, publishing, pop culture and climate change. She joined Forbes in 2023 and lives in Dallas. She’s covered Netflix’s hottest documentaries, a surge of assaults reported on social media, the most popular books of the year and how climate change stands to impact the way we eat. Roeloffs was included on Editor & Publisher Magazine’s “ 25 Under 30” list in 2023 and worked covering local news in the greater Boston area from 2017 to 2023. She graduated with a double major in political science and journalism from Northeastern University. Follow Roeloffs for continued coverage of streaming wars, pop culture news and trending topics.
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