Dutch beach volleyball star should be banned from Paris Olympics

Steven Van de Velde pleaded guilty to three counts of rape against the child in 2016. Picture: Getty Images

No athlete convicted of rape – let alone the sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl – should be allowed to compete at the Olympics.

On Wednesday The Australian revealed how beach volleyball star Steven Van de Velde, who was found guilty of three counts of sexually assaulting a British 12-year-old girl, could make his Olympic debut in Paris.

It’s astonishing there are no International Olympic Committee rules that prevent a criminal such as Van de Velde from competing at the Paris Olympics.

And in turn, the IOC has abjectly failed the fans who support the greatest show on earth every four years. Because does anyone really want to watch a convicted rapist compete at the Olympics?

Instead, Van de Velde may soon be afforded the opportunity to play on one of the grandest of stages, the beach volleyball Olympic stadium situated beside the Eiffel Tower.

Since his release from jail, Van de Velde has rocketed up the sport’s ranks.⁠ Picture: Andrea Kareth /SEPA.Media /Getty Images

It’s set to be a stunning sight and the beach volleyball as an event has one of the most electric atmospheres at the Games and Van de Velde is most likely to be there – and that’s because no one has the backbone and moral courage to stop him.

The IOC and, in turn, the Dutch sporting bodies’ failures to prevent an athlete with a horrific crime to his name from qualifying for the Olympics is a prime example of how toothless administrators in the world of sport can be.

The Dutch Olympic committee would not comment to The Australian as the Netherlands volleyball association has not yet submitted its final selections. Other Dutch sources say Van de Velde has “served his time” and to restrict his professional sporting career could invite legal scrutiny.

While sporting bodies happily fly flags, do the tokenistic, symbolic gestures all in the name of the scourge that is “violence against women”, when it matters they won’t bother doing the right thing like banning an athlete. Why? Because seemingly it’s easier to wear a ribbon or coloured socks than to act.

“Winning at all costs” often dominates the thinking of national sport bodies, and turning a blind eye to an athlete’s sexual assault and domestic violence records is not unusual.

In 2014 Van de Velde, then 19, groomed the 12-year-old victim over social media and met up with her and raped her. Picture: Andrea Kareth /SEPA.Media /Getty Images

During these Olympic Games you’ll hear a lot of talk about gender equality. There will be 10,500 athletes at the Paris Olympics, and for the first time in history there will be a 50-50 split of male and female athletes attending.

But if the IOC and governing bodies truly cared about the treatment of women and girls, it wouldn’t allow those who have committed violent crimes against women and girls to be afforded the privilege of representing their country. They would simply ban those criminal athletes such as Van de Velde.

It was in 2014 that Van de Velde, then 19, groomed the 12-year-old victim over social media and met up with her and raped her. In 2016, he was sentenced to four years jail, of which he served just 12 months in the Netherlands before being released in March 2017.

Van de Velde was a rising star for the Netherlands in beach volleyball at the time of the offence.

When announcing the four-year sentence in early 2016, Judge Francis Sheridan claimed Van de Velde’s chances of appearing at the Olympics were now a “shattered dream” and that he had a “dark side”.

However, since being released Van de Velde has re-established his career and rocketed up the sport’s ranks.

Van de Velde recently joined up with a new playing partner, Matthew Immers, and they are the second-ranked Dutch team for the Olympics. They have secured one of their country’s two men’s spots at Paris 2024 and are ranked 11th on the overall rankings heading into the Games.

Paris could well serve as the stage where Van de Velde’s Olympic dreams are fulfilled – but if that it happens, it will also show that the IOC and national sporting bodies are willing to ignore an athlete with a dark, vile history of raping a child.