Steven van de Velde

Last updated

Steven van de Velde
Steven van de Velde 2020.jpg
Van de Velde in 2020
Personal information
NationalityFlag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
Born (1994-08-08) 8 August 1994 (age 29)
The Hague, Netherlands
Height6 ft 6 in (1.99 m)
Beach volleyball information
Teammate
2011–2012 Jeffery van Wijk
2013 Daan Spijkers
2013–2015 Michiel van Dorsten
2015–2018 Dirk Boehlé
2019–2022 Christiaan Varenhorst
2023–2024 Matthew Immers
Conviction(s) Rape (3 counts)
Criminal penaltyFour years in prison
Capture status
Released on licence after serving one year
Details
Victims12-year-old girl
Date2 August 2014

Steven van de Velde (born 8 August 1994) is a Dutch beach volleyball player. He was convicted of child rape in 2016. [1] He has qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics, with the Dutch Olympic Committee standing by their nomination. [2]

Contents

Volleyball career

Van de Velde won the Under-20 Dutch National Championships in 2011. [3] With partner Michiel van Dorsten he represented the Netherlands at the 2015 European Games. Together with partner Dirk Boehlé, he finished third at the Blooming Beach Aalsmeer of the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. [4]

In June 2024 van de Velde qualified to play Beach Volleyball on behalf of the Netherlands Olympic Team. The Dutch Olympic Committee, NOC*NSF, decided to neither house him with the other athletes at the Olympic Village, nor to allow him to speak to journalists. The Committee also apologized for the psychological effect of van de Velde's nomination on sexual assault victims, claiming they did not expect it to attract as much attention. [5]

Child rape

In August 2014 van de Velde, then 19 years old, raped a 12-year-old girl he had met on Facebook who lived in Milton Keynes, England. He travelled to her home and, when her mother was out gave her alcohol and then raped her several times at her home as well as near Furzton Lake which was nearby. [6] The victim would eventually go on to self-harm and once overdosed. [7] Van de Velde returned to the Netherlands after the rape, although he was eventually extradited to the United Kingdom and arrested in January 2016. [8]

Sentencing and release

In March 2016, Van de Velde pleaded guilty at Aylesbury Crown Court to three counts of child rape, specifically the charge of "rape of a child under the age of 13". The judge sentenced Van de Velde to four years' imprisonment and placed him on the Violent and Sex Offender Register for life. [9] During his sentencing remarks, the judge stated, "Your hopes of representing your country [as an Olympic athlete] now lie as a shattered dream" and "He [Van de Velde] has lost a stellar sports career and has been branded a rapist. Plainly it is a career end for him". [10]

Under a treaty between the Netherlands and UK, Van de Velde was transferred to the Netherlands to serve his sentence. The sentence was at that time adjusted in line with Dutch law, and the charge of rape was substituted for that of fornication. [11] After serving a year of his original four year sentence, he was released from prison. [8]

The Dutch Volleyball Association allowed him to resume his career as a beach volleyball player.

In 2024, he was controversially selected to represent the Netherlands in the 2024 Summer Olympics. [12] However, in order to "establish calm," the Dutch Olympic Committee isolated Van de Velde from the rest of the Dutch team, and barred him from talking to media. [13]

Later comments

After his release in 2017, van de Velde complained about "all the nonsense" reporting on his crime in the media, claiming that the term pedophile did not apply to him, without expanding further. [1] [14] At the same time he stated not yet having read any of the reporting he was criticizing. [15] The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) condemned his comments at the time, stating that his "lack of remorse and self-pity is breathtaking". [8]

Van de Velde returned to international competition in 2018, when he excused himself in an interview, saying that he (aged 19 at the time of the rapes): "made that choice in my life when I wasn't ready, I was a teenager still figuring things out. I was sort of lost". [16] He has since described it as "the biggest mistake of [his] life". [17]

Personal life

He is married to Kim van de Velde  [ de ] ( née Behrens), a German volleyball player who studied psychology and trained to become a police officer. [18] [19] They have one child. [20] His brother-in-law is footballer Kevin Behrens, who plays for VfL Wolfsburg and the Germany national football team. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieter van den Hoogenband</span> Dutch swimmer

Pieter Cornelis Martijn van den Hoogenband is a Dutch retired swimmer. He is a triple Olympic champion and former world record holder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aalsmeer</span> Municipality in North Holland, Netherlands

Aalsmeer is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Its name is derived from the Dutch for eel (aal) and lake (meer). Aalsmeer is bordered by the Westeinderplassen lake, the largest open water of the Randstad, and the Ringvaart Canal. The town is located 13 km (8 mi) southwest of Amsterdam.

The Sydney gang rapes were a series of gang rape attacks committed by a group of up to 14 youths led by Bilal Skaf against women and teenage girls as young as 14, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia across several days in 2000. The crimes, described as ethnically motivated hate crimes by officials and commentators, were covered extensively by the news media, and prompted the passing of new laws. In 2002, the nine men convicted of the gang rapes were sentenced to a total of more than 240 years in jail. According to court transcripts, Judge Michael Finnane described the rapes as events that "you hear about or read about only in the context of wartime atrocities".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Dutroux</span> Belgian serial killer

Marc Paul Alain Dutroux is a Belgian convicted serial killer, serial rapist, and child molester. Initially convicted for the abduction and rape of five young girls in 1989, Dutroux was released on parole after just three years' imprisonment. He was arrested again in 1996 on suspicion of having abducted, tortured, and sexually abused six girls aged between 8 and 19, four of whom were killed. Dutroux's widely publicized trial ended with his conviction on all charges in 2004; he was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.

Van de Velde, Vande Velde, or Vandevelde is a Dutch toponymic surname meaning "from the field". Van de Velde is the 32nd most common name in Belgium, with 8,903 people in 2008, while in 2007 there were 3,319 people named "Van de Velde" in The Netherlands. Among other variations on this name are Van der Velde, Vandevelde, Van Velde, Van de Velden, and Van der Velden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanne Keizer</span> Dutch beach volleyball player

Sanne Keizer is a Dutch beach volleyball player who plays as a right-side defender with her partner Madelein Meppelink. Her career highlights include two gold, two silver and four bronze medals on the FIVB World Tour. She is a two-time European Champion and she represented the Netherlands at the 2012 Summer Olympics, finishing ninth with Marleen van Iersel.

Mark Philip Dixie is a British serial rapist and a murderer who was convicted on 22 February 2008 of murdering 18-year-old singer and model Sally Anne Bowman on 25 September 2005 in South Croydon, London. He has 17 other criminal convictions. He was known by various pseudonyms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuba men's national volleyball team</span> Mens national volleyball team representing Cuba

The Cuba men's national volleyball team represents Cuba in international volleyball competitions and friendly matches, governed by Federación Cubana De Voleibol. Cuba in the 1976 Summer Olympics won their first bronze medal. In FIVB competitions, the national team won one gold each at World Cup, World Grand Champions Cup, World League and Challenger Cup. Cuba also attained two silver and two bronze World Championship medals and have won the NORCECA Championship 15 times with a 6-peat record.

Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008), is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States which held that the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for a crime in which the victim did not die and the victim's death was not intended.

A serial rapist is someone who commits multiple rapes, whether with multiple victims or a single victim repeatedly over a period of time. Some serial rapists target children. The terms sexual predator, repeat rape and multiple offending can also be used to describe the activities of those who commit a number of consecutive rapes, but remain unprosecuted when self-reported in research. Others will commit their assaults in prisons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NOC*NSF</span> National Paralympic Committee of the Netherlands

The Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation, generally abbreviated NOC*NSF, is the overall coordinating Dutch sports organisation that also functions as the Dutch National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee. NOC*NSF, based at the National Sports Centre Papendal in Arnhem, is the umbrella organisation for sports in the Netherlands, representing more than 23,000 sports clubs and 5.2 million Dutch people involved in sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Behrens</span> German footballer

Kevin Behrens is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg and the Germany national team.

Christian Van Geloven was a Dutch kidnapper, rapist and double murderer, responsible for the murders of two young French girls on October 19, 1991, in Elne, Pyrénées-Orientales. For his crimes, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with 30 years of preventive detention on March 25, 1994, for the two killings, which he served until his cancer-related death in prison.

The Dutch Volleyball Association or in is an organisation founded in 1947 to govern the practice of volleyball in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics</span> 2024 Paris Olympic event

The volleyball tournaments at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are scheduled to run from 27 July to 11 August 2024. 24 volleyball teams and 48 beach volleyball teams will participate in the tournament. Indoor volleyball competitions will occur at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles with the beach volleyball tournament staged at the Eiffel Tower Stadium in Champ de Mars. This is the first time in the history of the Olympic volleyball competition, each team participating in the Games will be entitled to include one non-competing (AP) athlete to replace an athlete for medical reasons. As such, team rosters will increase from 12 to 13 athletes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netherlands at the 2024 Summer Olympics</span> Netherlands at the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris

The Netherlands is scheduled to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. Dutch athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games except for two occasions: the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis and the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne as a protest against the Soviet invasion of Hungary. In 2024, the Dutch team courted controversy by insisting that convicted child rapist Steven Van De Velde be part of the national team.

There are various issues that caused concerns and controversies related to the 2024 Summer Olympics, including security concerns, human rights ones, and controversy over allowing Israel to participate amidst the Israel–Hamas war, and allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While there is nominally an Olympic Truce in place as is usual, the wars in Ukraine and Palestine already set a more conflicted political background to the 2024 Summer Olympics, before also considering domestic and sporting issues.

References

  1. 1 2 Brown, Oliver (25 June 2024). "Dutch volleyball player who raped 12-year-old British girl qualifies for Paris Olympics". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  2. ↑ "Volleyball player convicted of rape set for Olympics". BBC News . 26 June 2024. Archived from the original on 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  3. ↑ Voorburg, 10 August 2011 pagr 12
  4. ↑ Blooming Beach Aalsmeer | Men - Main draw Archived 2024-06-26 at the Wayback Machine , FIVB.org
  5. ↑ "Dutch volleyball player convicted of raping a child won't stay in Paris Olympic Village | NL Times". nltimes.nl. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
  6. ↑ "Dutch beach volleyball star given four-year jail term for rape". Bucks Herald. 22 March 2016. Archived from the original on 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  7. ↑ "Netherlands rapist of girl, 12, to compete at 2024 Paris Olympics". The Australian. 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 "Rapist Steven Van de Velde's remarks condemned by NSPCC". BBC News. 17 March 2017. Archived from the original on 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  9. ↑ "Dutch volleyball player jailed for raping girl, 12, he met on Facebook". BBC News. 2016-03-21. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
  10. ↑ "Would-be Olympian jailed after flying 400 miles to rape a 12-year-old girl in Milton Keynes". miltonkeynes.co.uk. 2016-03-21. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
  11. ↑ "Support for Steven van de Velde, who realizes past cannot be erased". volleybal.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-07-02.
  12. ↑ "Dutch Olympic organizers stand by qualification of athlete convicted of rape". TODAY.com. 2024-06-29. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
  13. ↑ "Convicted rapist 'isolated' from teammates, banned from village amid storm: Olympic Daily". Fox Sports. 2024-07-22. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
  14. ↑ Brown, Oliver (2024-06-25). "Dutch volleyball player who raped 12-year-old British girl qualifies for Paris Olympics". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2024-07-24.
  15. ↑ Smith, By Alan (2024-07-23). "Olympian guilty of raping British girl, 12, to get special protection in Paris". The Mirror. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
  16. ↑ "Convicted child rapist picked for Olympics team". Nine. 2024-06-27. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  17. ↑ Brown, Oliver (2024-06-27). "Dutch Olympics committee defends selection of volleyball player who raped 12-year-old British girl". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2024-07-24.
  18. ↑ Klingovsky, Jochen (30 June 2023). "Beachvolleyballerin Kim van de Velde: Bikinihosen bessern das Budget auf". Stuttgarter Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  19. ↑ Ludwig, Mirko (22 July 2013). "Kim Behrens vollführt Spagat zwischen Leistungsport und Dienst". Westfälische Nachrichten (in German). Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  20. ↑ Dorow, Olaf (15 December 2022). "Beachvolleyball: Das Comeback der Kim van de Velde". Weser Kurier (in German). Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  21. ↑ Hofmann, Tina (26 June 2024). "Aufruhr vor den Olympischen Spielen: Verurteilter Vergewaltiger fährt nach Paris". TAG24 (in German). Retrieved 27 June 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.