International victim organisations have put out a joint statement saying they want Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van der Linden banned from the Olympic games following his prior conviction for raping a British child
Steven van der Linden, now 29, has been convicted of having sexual relations with a 12-year-old girl in the UK. In 2014 he travelled to the UK to meet the girl, whom he met over Facebook. Years later he mentioned to NOS he was aware of her age. He was 19 years old at the time.
The English criminal court sentenced him to 4 years in prison, but upon being transferred to a Dutch prison he was released after 13 months.
He has previously stated that “this was the biggest mistake of his life”.
Now that he is set to represent the Dutch volleyball team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, there has been an international uproar and the story has been closely followed by leading international media outlets including CNN and the New York Times. The organisations Sport & Rights Alliance, Kyniska Advocacy, and The Army of Survivors said there’s no room for registered sex offenders in the Olympics and have called on the International Olympic Committee to ban his participation.
In a statement in Trouw, the organisations said that the participation of “a convicted rapist” is against the Olympic ideal of using “sports to make the world better.” “We’re not against sports playing a role in rehabilitating convicts, but we don’t think the most prestigious sports podium in the world is the right place for that.”
However, the sports organisation NOC*NSF thinks van de Velde is “a qualified athlete who meets all the conditions to be at the Olympics.” “We’re busy building a proper plan around Steven so it will be a workable situation for him in Paris,” Director of Topsport Andre Cats told Trouw.
Volleyball organisation Nevobo who, together with NOC*NSF, is responsible for sending athletes to Paris, shares that opinion. They point out that van de Velde has completed his sentence and that there is no sign of recidivism according to professionals.
Van de Velde has recently spoken about the situation in an interview with Volleybal.nl. He says he was always conscious that the situation would be brought up again in the future. “I did what I did, you’re allowed to judge me for that,” he said. “I understand that coming up to the biggest sports event in the world will attract the attention of international media.”
The news has already reached international news outlets like CNN and BBC.
