PARIS — Steven van de Velde, the Dutch beach volleyball player convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl in 2016, was eliminated from the Paris Olympics on Sunday night after he and his partner Matthew Immers lost in straight sets to Brazil.
In his fourth and final match, van de Velde was met with a constant barrage of boos and whistles every time he served.
On match point, van de Velde served and, as the crowd booed, Evandro scored the winning spike to win 21-16, 21-16 and end the Netherlands’ stay at the Summer Olympics.
The teammates hugged each other, shook hands with opponents and umpires for the traditional postgame handshakes, then sat on the bench for a few minutes with their arms around each other’s shoulders.
Van de Velde waved to the crowd as he walked away, searching for the orange-clad Dutch fan who had been applauding among the other booing fans.
“It was a roller coaster of emotions, I think,” Immers said. “We fought. We enjoyed every moment. So I’m really proud. It was the coolest stadium I’ve ever played in. … It’s a shame we didn’t show our level, but everything around it was fun.”
As he has done throughout the Games, van de Velde did not walk through the mixed zone to speak to reporters, as is typically required of all Olympians, and Immers said his partner needed a mental break.
“I’ll say it for him, we were disappointed after we lost the game,” Immers said, “but we said to each other, ‘Look what we did together. Look how hard we fought under the spotlight.’ We stayed together. We walked off the field and cried together and said, ‘OK, let’s enjoy this moment.’ And we did, so I’m glad we did it that way.”
Van de Velde, 29, was convicted of rape in Britain in 2016 and served 13 months in prison.
2024 Paris Olympics
Victims’ advocates, lawmakers and fans have called for him to be banned from the Olympics, but the IOC said it had no power to stop the Netherlands from sending athletes who had qualified in the normal way.
As he was introduced before the match, coach van de Velde stood up from the players’ bench and waved to the crowd, pointing to the orange-clad Dutch fans.
“We can control what happens on this side of the net, not what happens on the other side,” Evandro said when asked about the reaction from a usually enthusiastic crowd at one of Paris’ liveliest and most entertaining venues.
“It’s something they’re going to have to deal with,” the three-time Olympian said.
The Netherlands went 1-2 in pool play and won in a three-way tiebreaker due to a higher ratio of wins to losses in sets.
But that left them with a round of 16 encounter with Brazil’s Evandro and Arthur, who had not dropped a set in their four matches at the Paris Olympics.
Immers said he and van de Velde would team up to compete first at the European Championships in the Netherlands the week after the Olympics, and then at the Dutch championships.
“We placed ninth in our first Olympics and we’re very proud of that,” said Immers, 23. “And we’ll keep winning.”
