Warning: This story contains distressing details related to sexual assault.
Steven Van de Velde, the Dutch beach volleyball player who was convicted in 2016 of having sex with a 12-year-old girl in England, will make his Olympic debut Sunday when he and teammate Matthew Immers meet Italy on the sand at the Eiffel Tower Stadium.
Van de Velde’s presence in Paris has drawn negative attention to the sport with a beach party vibe and a venue that is quadrennially one of the Summer Games’ most festive atmospheres. Advocates for rape victims and some Olympics officials have said he should have been left at home.
“If an athlete or a staff member had that conviction, they wouldn’t be allowed to be a member of our team,” the head of Australia’s delegation, Anna Meares, said this week. “We do have a number of athletes under 18 and under 16 and so those policies are well in action for safeguarding of our team.”
Now 29, Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of raping a girl he reportedly got to know online. He served 13 months in prison.
After his release, the Dutch Olympic committee said Van de Velde met the conditions to return to competition after a conviction and resumed his career in 2017 “after an intensive professionally supervised process.”
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.”
“I understand that in the run-up to the biggest sporting event in the world, this can attract the attention of international media,” he said in a statement posted on the website of the Netherlands Volleyball Federation. “I cannot reverse it, so I will have to bear the consequences.”
Beach volleyball can be a tight community, with players on opposing teams often traveling together and hanging out on the road for tournaments from Phuket, Thailand, to Stavanger, Norway, and Recife, Brazil. Van de Velde has had a presence on the international tour over the past two years — that’s how the teams earn points toward Olympic qualification — but players who spoke after their matches on Saturday kept their distance.
“The first thing I’d like to say is that we don’t condone his actions,” Australia’s Mark Nicolaidis said. “But, apart from that, I’ve just finished the game, and that that’s kind of all that’s on my mind at the moment.”
Others declined to comment.
“We’re just focused on doing our best against the teams in front of us,” American Miles Partain said after his Olympic debut on Saturday.
Mood change
Van de Velde’s appearance at the Eiffel Tower Stadium on the Champ de Mars on Sunday morning is expected to put a pause on the party atmosphere that poked out between the clouds of a rainy first day at the 2024 Olympics’ iconic venue.
The weather was unable to slow down the men’s tournament favourites from Sweden, who beat Australia in straight sets, or Cuba, which did the same to the Americans, Partain and Andy Benesh.
Fans stomped their feet and cheered along as the strains of a Parisian accordion wafted over the soggy sand. An emcee worked to keep the crowd active as fans huddled under their ponchos and raincoats in what, on a sunny day, would be the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
Clear skies are expected Sunday, when Van de Velde and Immers will play a veteran Italian team.
Support is available for anyone who has been sexually assaulted through crisis lines and local support services via this Government of Canada website or the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.
