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 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.
He raped a 12 year old girl and served 1 year in prison before his country rescued him and set him free.
And then called it ‘nonsense’ to the press. He has no remorse whatsoever.
We need some British attendees to bring milkshaking to the global stage. If ever someone deserved it
What an ambarassment for my country. I thought surely if they let him play it must have been some Russian sham trial but no it was in England.
Why is this fuck allowed to show up and represent the Netherlands? Gross.
The USA has a rapist running for president.
He’s also a convicted felon.
Also gross.
As an American I’m mortified about that as well.
Most people hold the Netherlands to a higher standard. It’s like the “at least we’re not Alabama” of international politics.
Running? He was a rapist when he was president, too. For 4 years.
Like if there was nobody else in the whole country that isn’t a convicted child rapist
I haven’t been convicted!
no, wait
Officers! This guy. This guy right here!
He needs a detail while running for office.
I’m so embarrassed for my countrymen as well, is this really how we want to be represented?
And then lost. Could have just left him at home and saved a lot of trouble.
A volleyball player, a rapist, and a paedophile walk into a bar.
“Get out of my bar, Steven van de Velde” says the barman.
Glad he is booed.
Of course he is allowed.
Of course? I thought the Olympics took ethics very seriously. I guess only ethics when it comes to what athletes put in their own body.
I thought the Olympics took ethics very seriously
You must be new 😄
I guess only ethics when it comes to what athletes put in their own body
Not even always that. See for example Russian athletes being allowed to compete in spite of decades of systematic doping.
Hell, China has 11 swimmers competing with no restrictions in spite of testing positive for banned substances in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics!
Yeah, but those are cases where the IOC is being defied and pretends not to notice. They can’t pretend here because it’s completely public. They just don’t care. I’m assuming a substantial amount of money is at issue.
WADAs story that 20+ Chinese swimmers tested positive for something they ate at their hotel back in 2021 sounds pretty absurd. Is that even possible?
I’m no expert, but as far as I know it’s in the “technically possible but so unlikely that it’s a ridiculous defense” category.
Like when then-superstar of cycling Alberto Contador* tested positive for the main indicator of blood transfusion doping and blamed eating a rare steak 🤦😄
*I love that his name sounds super cool in the original Spanish, but if you translate it to English he’s “Albert (the) Accountant” 😂
Cyril Figgis taking his shot at Olympic medals.
Forget the IOC, how did anyone in the Netherlands think it was okay for him to represent their nation?
Oh, most people in the Netherlands who know about this think it’s completely absurd and it shouldn’t have happened.
But for some reason the Olympic Committee disagrees.
They apparently forgave him the moment he stepped off the boat back when he got released.
Well the people in charge of the olympic team at least… not the whole country. I only heard about this dude recently and he can fuck right off.
I haven’t heard about any major protests in Amsterdam about them allowing a pedophile rapist on their Olympic team, have you?
I thought the Olympics took ethics very seriously.
They still let Russian athletes compete even after multiple issues with doping, just not under their own flag (wink wink).
Also the ioc is notoriously corrupt AF.
I just think it’s funny that they make this big deal about ethics and actually don’t give a shit about it. But hey, they all swear an oath!
