PARIS (AP) — Steven van de Velde, the Dutch beach volleyball player who served time in prison for rape, received a mixture of boos and applause when he was introduced before his opening match on Sunday at the Paris Games.
Van de Velde was convicted in 2016 of having sex with a 12-year-old girl in England. His record resurfaced last month when he qualified for the Olympics as one of the top two Dutch teams on the international tour.
Van de Velde was greeted with only a handful of boos when he first took the sand for warmups, but the hooting was louder for the more formal pre-match introduction. His teammate Matthew Immers – and all the other players appearing at the Eiffel Tower Stadium so far in the Summer Games – received nothing but cheers.
The International Volleyball Federation said it was powerless to stop the Netherlands from sending Van de Velde to Paris after he qualified in the usual way. Van de Velde, who is not staying at the athlete’s village and has not been available to the media, said after earning his Olympic berth that the incident was “the biggest mistake of my life.”
