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Topics: Crime, Olympics, Sport, UK News, World News
Joe Harker
Topics: Crime, Olympics, Sport, UK News, World News
Warning: This article contains discussion of rape which some readers may find distressing.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has faced calls to investigate how an athlete convicted of raping a child is being allowed to compete at Paris 2024.
29-year-old Steven van de Velde is a member of the beach volleyball team for the Netherlands and his selection has caused a significant amount of controversy.
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Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after he admitted to three counts of raping a 12-year-old girl in August 2014.
He had met the girl on Facebook and travelled to the UK to meet her, having full knowledge of her age.
He served one year of his sentence in the UK before being transferred back to the Netherlands where he was released after a further month.
The convicted child rapist has since played for the Netherlands at an international level.
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According to The Guardian, the CEO of Rape Crisis England & Wales said the inclusion of the convicted child rapist created an 'enormous sense of impunity' and she called for an investigation into the matter.
Ciara Bergman said: "If you can rape a child and still compete in the Olympics, despite all athletes signing a declaration promising to be a role model, that is just shocking.
"There is always an impact on the individual victim survivor, but every act of violence against women and girls is a crime against society. It has a collateral and collective impact on all other women and girls.
"How did we get here? How did we get to a place where raping a child is seen as less important than the medal someone might win at the Olympics?
"It’s just extraordinary, I think there has to be some kind of investigation into this and how it was allowed to happen. It has to be a moment for real thinking and real change."
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Andrea Simon, executive director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, supported the calls for an investigation, saying that van de Velde's inclusion sent a message 'that there will unlikely be any consequences, and therefore no deterrent' to men who commit rape.
Former Olympian Paula Radcliffe yesterday apologised for her comments on van de Velde.
She had said: "I think it’s a tough thing to do to punish him twice and if he’s managed to successfully turn his life around after being sent to prison and to qualify and to be playing sport at the highest level, then I actually wish him the best of luck."
Radcliffe said she was 'mortified that I expressed it so badly and didn't condemn the rape out loud'.
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This week, the head of the Netherlands' Olympic team, Pieter van den Hoogenband, spoke about the child rapist's inclusion.
He stated: “To be honest, I was a bit surprised by the fuss. He has been active in international sport, the beach volleyball world, for some time.
"He has played European Championships and World Cups, but then you see that things are different around the Games. That things are exaggerated.
"He’s not going to downplay it. We have to respect that and help him as a member of the team to be able to perform.
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"I'm the boss, responsible for the whole team, for the athletes. He's just a member of the team, he qualified, and that's why he deserves our support."
The BBC reports that the IOC has said individual committees are responsible for the selection of athletes for the Olympics.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: "They have put out a statement, they've made it very clear there's a lot of safeguarding going on, special extra safeguarding."
LADbible have contacted the IOC for further comment.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 500 222, available 24/7. If you are currently in danger or need urgent medical attention, you should call 999.