Ahmad 
The participation of Dutch athlete Steven van de Velde in the Paris 2024 Olympics, who has previously been convicted of child rape, has sparked outrage and calls for an investigation into how he was allowed to compete despite his criminal history.
Van de Velde was sentenced in 2016 to four years in prison for raping a 12-year-old British girl, whom he met after connecting on Facebook and travelled to England despite knowing she was young.
The player spent 12 months in a British prison before being transferred to the Netherlands, where he was released a month later and returned to international duty with the Netherlands, sparking controversy, particularly in Britain and Australia.
Rape Crisis England & Wales chief executive Ciara Bergman described the Dutch player’s inclusion in the Olympics as “irresponsible” and reflecting “a huge sense of impunity”, pointing to the dangerous message his participation could send to rapists and victims of sexual assault.
French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera explained that Van de Velde’s participation came after he had spent time in prison and completed a rehabilitation program, and that the National Olympic Committee is responsible for selecting athletes, not the French state.
For its part, the International Olympic Committee confirmed that the selection of athletes to participate lies with the individual committees, while the Dutch Olympic Committee defended its decision to include Van de Velde, noting that he “matured and changed his life positively” after completing the rehabilitation program.
Steven Van de Velde is a Dutch beach volleyball player who was born on August 8, 1994, in The Hague, Netherlands. He began his sports career at an early age and achieved many achievements in the field of beach volleyball, winning the Dutch Under-20 Championship in 2011.
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