The IOC is facing calls for an investigation into how a convicted child rapist was allowed to compete in the Paris 2024 Games on the eve of the opening of the Olympics.
Amid growing public outrage over Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde, who was convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl in 2016, competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, sports bodies have warned that the decision is sending a dangerous message to rapists and causing “collateral damage” to victims of sexual abuse.
Ciara Bergman, chief executive of Rape Crisis England and Wales, said “irresponsibly” allowing van der Velde to take part in the Olympics created a “huge sense of impunity”, adding: “It’s simply shocking that someone can rape a child and compete in the Olympics when all athletes sign a declaration pledging to lead by example.”
She added that there would be “significant consequences” if van der Velde joined the Dutch national team: “There are always consequences for the individual victim, but any act of violence against a woman or girl is a crime against society. It has collateral and collective effects on all other women and girls.”
Bergmann called on the International Olympic Committee to investigate why van der Velde was allowed to compete. “How did we get to this point? Has raping a child come to be considered less important than an Olympic medal? It’s just outrageous,” he said. “I think there needs to be some kind of investigation into this and why it was allowed to happen. It’s time for some serious thought and real change.”
The backlash has overshadowed one of the flagship events of the Olympics, which begins on Saturday in an outdoor stadium at the base of the Eiffel Tower. On Wednesday, Paula Radcliffe apologized when asked about a blanket ban from the Olympics on The Andrew Marr Tonight Show. She initially said it would be “difficult to punish Olympic athletes.” [Van der Velde] She added, “I wish him the best of luck.”
Andrea Simon, secretary-general of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said van der Velde’s selection for the Olympics sent a “disturbing message that there will be no impunity or deterrence” to men who commit rapists.
She supported calls for an investigation into van der Velde’s Olympic participation and called for mandatory consent training for athletes and education about healthy sexual relationships for young athletes in sports academies.
Van de Velde, now 29, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to raping a British girl in 2016. Van de Velde had flown to the UK in 2014 to meet the girl he had met on Facebook, fully aware of her age.
Sentencing him, Judge Francis Sheridan told the defendant: “Prior to coming to this country you were training as a potential Olympic athlete. Your hopes of representing your country are now shattered dreams.” The court heard the defendant had self-harmed and taken a drug overdose.
Van der Velde served 12 months in a British prison, was extradited to his home country and released after a further month, and has since gone on to play internationally for the Netherlands.
After newsletter promotion
After he was released from prison, he gave an interview to the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad and said: “I want to correct all the nonsense that was written about me while I was in prison. I purposely didn’t read anything, but I understand that it was pretty nasty. I was labelled a sex monster, a pedophile. I’m not like that. I really am not.”
David Challen, a campaigner against violence against women and girls – whose mother, Sally Challen, was the victim of her husband’s coercive and controlling behaviour for decades – said allowing Van de Velde to compete would “teach young women and girls that the harm men have done to them can easily be forgotten in the path to their dreams and glory”.
The IOC says it is the responsibility of each committee to select athletes for the Olympics. The Dutch Olympic Committee, which selected van der Velde, said he had served his sentence, completed an extensive rehabilitation program and experts had concluded he was not at risk of reoffending. The volleyball player had shown “growth and a positive change in his life,” it said.
The British Olympic Association would not have allowed van der Velde to take part in the British team due to safety regulations and the Australian Olympic team confirmed they were taking a similar position.
