2024-07-27 05:42:29
At the age of 19, Van de Velde went to the British city of Milton Keynes and when the victim’s mother had gone out, he drugged and repeatedly raped a 12-year-old British girl, who later overdosed on drugs.
In March 2016, van de Velde was convicted of child rape in Great Britain and sentenced to four years in prison.
The currently 29-year-old athlete met the girl on Facebook, knowing that she was 12 years old.
In 2018, after his release from prison, van de Velde told the Dutch broadcaster NOS: “I made this choice in my life when I was a teenager. I was lost and now I have a lot more life experience than just being a prisoner.”
The Dutch newspaper “De Telegraaf” stated that both participants consented to the sex. However, under British law, a 12-year-old cannot give consent. In the Netherlands, on the other hand, the same situation would be classified as “fornication” and the offense would be lighter.
Judge Francis Sheridan, hearing the case, told the athlete: “Before coming to this country you trained as a potential Olympian. Your hopes of representing your country are now a shattered dream.”
However, the athlete has qualified for the Olympic Games together with his partner Matthew Immers.
The Netherlands Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF) says van de Velde has undergone an “intensive, professionally supervised” cycle of evaluation and counseling since 2018 before being cleared to return to international beach volleyball tournaments.
Van de Velde, who is now married with a two-year-old child, and Immers are ranked tenth in the world.
Van de Velde will be shielded from mass media attention in Paris and will not live in the Olympic village. A procedure has been created especially for him, that after the games, the beach volleyball player will not go to the representatives of the mass media.
The Australian newspaper reminds that the National Olympic Committees of the Games Organization have a duty to prevent athletes with a criminal past from representing their country.
To promote human rights, peace and clean sport, all participants in the Paris Games have been required to sign the Declaration of the Rights and Responsibilities of Athletes, and its seventh paragraph states that the athlete must “act as a role model”.
The opening ceremony of the Games in Paris will start at 20.30 Latvian time on Friday.
The Olympic Games will be held in the French capital until August 11, but men will compete in the beach volleyball tournament from July 27 to August 10.
2024-07-27 05:42:29