Steven van de Velde, Olympian convicted of rape, receives mixed reactions from fans

PARIS — Steven van de Velde, the Dutch beach volleyball player who served a prison sentence for having sex with a 12-year-old girl, was met with a mixture of boos and applause as he was introduced before losing his opening match at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.

Van de Velde did not speak to reporters after the three-set loss to Italy, a break with longstanding IOC policy. “He’s not here because he wanted to let his mind rest and just focus on the match,” said teammate Matthew Immers, who said he didn’t notice the crowd’s reaction.

Dutch team spokesman John van Vliet said the decision to protect Van de Velde was made by the national Olympic Committee and shared with the International Olympic Committee. Asked if they were protecting a convicted child rapist, he said: “We are protecting a convicted child rapist to be able to play his sport as well as possible and for a tournament for which he has qualified.”

“The general issue of sexual conviction and sexual crime is absolutely more important than sport,” Van Vliet said in the mixed zone after the match. “In his case, we are dealing with a person who has been convicted, who has served his sentence, who has done everything he can do to be able to compete again.”

Van de Velde was convicted in 2016 for having sex with a 12-year-old girl in England. He spent a total of 13 months in prison in Britain and the Netherlands.

The 29-year-old Olympic rookie was greeted with only a handful of boos when he first stepped onto the sand for warm-ups, but the booing was louder for the more formal introduction before the game. After all — and every other player who has hit the sand so far during the Summer Games — has received nothing but cheers.

There were no other signs of protest during the competition, which took place on the first sunny day at the iconic Olympic venue at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

The controversy has caught the Dutch duo by surprise after a two-year qualifying period in which Van de Velde’s record was not an issue. However, it resurfaced after the team played their way to 11th in the world rankings as the Netherlands’ No. 2 team, earning them an Olympic spot.

Immers said he was disappointed that the attention to the case dominated the discussion about his Olympic debut.

“He’s played with him many, many tournaments, many, many years — the last three years. It’s never been a problem,” Van Vliet said. “I don’t judge whether it should have been or not, but it’s never been a problem. And now, all of a sudden, it’s a surprise to them.”

The International Volleyball Federation has said it is powerless to stop the Dutch from sending Van de Velde to Paris after he qualified in the usual way. Van de Velde, who is not staying in the athletes’ village and has not been available to the media, said earlier that the incident was “the biggest mistake of my life”.

An IOC spokesman referred to the Dutch and reiterated what national officials had said about the extra security measures that had been put in place.

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“I don’t want to condone it in any way, but I think this happened 10 years ago and I think in general we have to consider the possibility of rehabilitation,” Mark Adams said at the IOC’s daily press conference.

According to Van Vliet, the decision not to make Van de Velde available is intended to keep the focus on the athletics competition.

“We want to talk about sports, especially him. We are very aware that when we bring Steven here, it’s not going to be about his sport and his performance,” he said. “We are here to create an environment for all of our athletes where they can perform well.”

After all, who like Van Vliet spoke broken English, did not want to comment on Van de Velde’s criminal past. He said: “What is in the past is in the past.”

“I think Steven is a really good example of how he is now,” Immers said. “I really enjoy playing with him. What’s in the past is in the past. He’s had his … punishment and now he’s really, really nice. For me that’s a great example that you’ve grown. You’ve learned a lot from it. And what happened in the past, I don’t know of course. It’s not good of course. But right now we’re trying to enjoy it and move on to the next round.”

Security for the match was no different than on Saturday, when the competition began. Most of the fans’ attention was focused on the crowd-pleasing Italian Adrian Carambula, whose Skyball serve spun high above the Olympic rings on the roof of the arena.

Carambula flexed his muscles for the fans as he and Alex Ranghieri came back from 20-17 down to win five points in a row and claim the first set. The Dutch closed out the second set on their first set point, winning 21-19.

Trailing 13-11 in the third set, Van de Velde served into the net. The Dutch reached 14-13, but Carambula hit one past Immers to win.

“I don’t know if we played the best game technically, but we compensated with a lot of energy,” said Carambula, a four-time Olympian who insisted the controversy over Van de Velde’s criminal past played no part in his thoughts before the match.

“We had the crowd in our favor and we wanted the win,” he said. “So that was the key.”

Van de Velde’s next match is against Chile on Wednesday, and a second loss would create a difficult — but not impossible — path to the knockout round.