{"id":1760,"date":"2024-07-29T16:38:09","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T16:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=1760"},"modified":"2024-07-29T16:38:09","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T16:38:09","slug":"dutch-volleyball-player-convicted-of-rape-booed-at-first-olympics-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=1760","title":{"rendered":"Dutch Volleyball Player Convicted of Rape Booed at First Olympics Match"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dutch volleyball player\u00a0Steven van de Velde\u2019s checkered past<\/a>\u00a0sparked a media firestorm ahead of the\u00a02024 Olympics<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and his first foray onto the court was met with mixed reactions.<\/p>\n

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Van de Velde, who in 2016 was convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl, was audibly booed on Sunday, July 28, as he was introduced to the crowds at the Eiffel Tower Stadium,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0multiple<\/a>\u00a0reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Though there was some applause mixed in amid the boos for the athlete, 29, his teammate, Matthew Immers, received cheers as he walked in. The pair ultimately lost their match to Italy.<\/p>\n

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Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison after admitting to three counts of rape, and was released in 2017 after serving just over a year of the sentence, according to\u00a0The New York Times<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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His inclusion on the Netherlands\u2019 Olympic team garnered serious backlash from various organizations, including a\u00a0Change.org petition<\/a>\u00a0that saw more than 95,000 people calling for his disqualification.<\/p>\n

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In response, the Dutch Olympic Committee released a statement saying van de Velde changed his life in the years since his prison sentence.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are deeply aware that the renewed publicity about Steven van de Velde is causing a lot of emotion, which we fully understand, as the events at that time were very serious,\u201d they said in a statement, according to the\u00a0Times<\/em>. “A lot has happened since then. Steven served his sentence and has completed an extensive rehabilitation program with specialized professionals, including the probation service. Experts have concluded there is no risk of recidivism.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Still, van de Velde is being housed outside of the Olympic Village and will not participate in media interviews, as to avoid further scrutiny, the\u00a0Times\u00a0<\/em>reported.<\/p>\n

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Following Sunday\u2019s match, van de Velde’s playing partner Immers told the BBC that he was glad he was able to compete alongside him at the Olympics.<\/p>\n

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“We talked about it one time and we want to enjoy every moment on this stage because we gave everything together for the past three years to qualify,” he said. “Steven is a really nice guy and for me, I played two years with him, there was nothing and now there [are] some people that don’t like it because it is a big tournament.”<\/p>\n

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The BBC also reported that van de Velde has previously told Dutch media that he considers his conviction \u201cthe biggest mistake of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cI can\u2019t reverse it, so I will have to bear the consequences,\u201d he reportedly said.<\/p>\n

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If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.<\/em><\/p>\n

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To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to\u00a0people.com<\/a>\u00a0to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. And sign up for\u00a0Going for Gold, our Olympics newsletter<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0to get the biggest stories from the Games delivered straight to your inbox. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, beginning July 26, on NBC and Peacock.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Dutch volleyball player\u00a0Steven van de Velde\u2019s checkered past\u00a0sparked a media firestorm ahead of the\u00a02024 Olympics\u00a0\u2014 and his first foray onto the court was met with mixed reactions. Van de Velde, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1764,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1760\/revisions\/1764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}