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Olympics child rapist Steven Van de Valde surprised at backlash for raping 12-year-old British girl but wouldn't let critics 'bully him away' - as he admits he 'broke down' at furious response to him making the Dutch squad in Paris
A shamed child rapist who competed in the Olympics for the Netherlands squad was surprised by the 'scale' of controversy surrounding his appearance in Paris, he admitted today.
Steven Van de Velde, 30, served just 12 months of a four-year sentence after he was guilty of three counts of raping a 12-year-old British girl in Milton Keynes in 2014 when he was 19.
Despite being told his conviction was 'career ending', Van de Velde was granted early release from prison and now a decade on from the attacks, the athlete was selected to compete for the Dutch volleyball team on the world stage.
Throughout the Olympic Games in the French capital, the player was booed and jeered at during his appearances before being eliminated in his fourth game with partner Matthew Immers on August 4.
During the competition he refused to speak to reporters but following the Closing Ceremony he sat down with a Dutch newspaper, shamelessly weeping about the storm that engulfed his participation.
He said the hoots and whistles throughout the games, particularly when he was serving, led him to consider quitting the Olympics but he wanted to stand up in the face of his critics.
The volleyball player said the intensity of the backlash - which dominated headlines for days - took him by surprise and caused him to break down but he didn't want to be 'bullied' from participating by critics.
Convicted child rapist Steven Van de Velde has sobbed in his first interview since the Paris 2024 Olympics where he was booed and jeered by spectators
Van de Velde, 30, (pictured in the Olympics) served just 12 months of a four-year sentence after he was guilty of three counts of raping a 12-year-old British girl in Milton Keynes in 2014 when he was 19
Steven van de Velde (right) was controversially selected for the Olympics despite having a conviction for raping a child. He is now married to Kim Behrens (left)
Van De Velde (pictured with teammate Matthew Immers during the Paris Olympics) was found guilty of three counts of raping a 12-year-old in Milton Keynes in 2014, yet competed this summer because he was granted early release from prison
'I definitely had a moment of breaking down, both before the tournament and during it,' he told NOS in Dutch, according to AFP.
'But I thought, 'I don't want that. I'm not going to give others the power to decide they can bully me away or get rid of me,'' he told NOS in Dutch, according to AFP.
He said the coverage was a 'shame' adding: 'It's been ten years, I've played more than a hundred tournaments.
'I understand that it's an issue: should someone with such a past be allowed to stand on such a podium. That's a legitimate question.'
Shockingly the Olympian went on to criticise the media for their reporting of the case, claiming that the coverage was 'hurting' his wife and child.
'I definitely thought about it, yes. I did something wrong, ten years ago. I have to accept that,' he told the newspaper.
'But hurting people around me - whether it's Matthew [his volleyball partner], my wife, my child... that just goes too far for me. That's definitely a moment where I thought, is this worth it?'
The rape took place at a house in Milton Keynes in August 2014 when Van de Velde travelled from Amsterdam to the UK.
Van de Velde (pictured) told a Dutch newspaper that he considered skipping the Olympics entirely and shockingly criticised the media for their reporting of the case
Despite the controversy, Immers (left) defended Van de Velde (right) and said they would stay as partners
The Dutch volleyball player, 29, served 12 months in England for the crime and was transferred to the Netherlands to serve another month before being released
Behrens (left), a police officer as well as an athlete, dotes on her 6' 6' tall husband and regularly posts loved-up content on social media about their lives together
Despite his conviction, the rapist has been able to successfully rebuild his life. He married fellow high profile volleyball pro Kim Behrens from Germany in 2022 before welcoming a son together.
Victims advocates, lawmakers and fans called on Van de Velde to be banned from competing in the Olympics, however, the IOC said it was powerless to stop the Netherlands from sending the athlete who qualified in the usual way.
A petition calling for him to be kicked out of the Games gained more than 94,400 signatures.
He was, however, banned from staying with fellow athletes in the Olympic village after the British Olympic Association aired its concerns with the IOC.
Meanwhile Dutch Olympic selectors stood by their decision to include Van de Velde as he met all their criteria to play for the national team in the Games.
They even gave him special treatment while competing - including a van to take him from location to location and stop him speaking from reporters. He was whisked away post-match surrounded by three bodyguards.
And his teammate Immers, 23, also defended the rapist during the tournament, saying: 'He's had his punishment. And now he's really kind.'
Van de Velde (centre) arrived in the French capital amid tight security last week on a Eurostar train from Rotterdam
Van de Velde and Behrens tied the knot in January 2022. He was released from jail in 2017, five years before his son was born
Members of the crowd booed the 29-year-old as he walked onto the sand to compete throughout the Games
Immers told the press he was taken by surprise at the reaction to van de Velde's past convictions
The Dutch pair qualified for the tournament at the Eiffel Tower Stadium ranked 11th in the world and qualified from their group despite losing their opening game to Italy.
Speaking after their first match at the Paris Games on July 28, Immers was asked if van de Velde had ever expressed any remorse to him for rape, to which he replied: 'No, he doesn't, he doesn't explain it.'
'Since 2018, Steven van de Velde has been participating in international beach volleyball tournaments again following an intensive, professionally supervised trajectory,' a spokesperson previously told Mail Sport.
'Meanwhile, Steven van de Velde has met all qualification criteria for the Olympic Games and is therefore included in the group of athletes who formally passed over on July 4 from the Dutch national federations to NOC, who then becomes responsible for them during the Olympic Games.'
During his trial just less than a decade ago, Aylesbury Crown Court heard how Van de Velde had travelled to the UK and met up with his victim and had sex with her.
Sandra Beck, prosecuting, told the court at the time: 'She describes that she had met Steven van de Velde on Facebook, they spoke regularly through that and he made her 'feel special'.
Steven van de Velde claps sand off his hands during his team's beach volleyball match against Italy in the Olympics
Van de Velde, pictured here in action against Italy, did not to speak to reporters in Paris - something typically required of all Olympians
'She certainly made it clear she was seven years younger than him. This relationship over social media was taking place over a period of time,' Ms Beck said.
The volleyball player's victim had added him as a friend on Facebook after he commented favourably on one of her photos, the court heard.
The following day, after the pair slept in cardboard boxes under a stairway at Premier Inn, having again been unable to book a room, she took him to her empty house and he took her virginity.
Before he returned to the Netherlands van de Velde advised her to get the morning after pill as they had not used contraception. It was her visit to a family planning clinic that alerted the authorities, who stepped in because of the girl's young age.
The sportsman, of Westeinde 46, Voorburg, the Netherlands, was extradited to the UK on January 8, when he was arrested on suspicion of the sex acts. He later admitted three counts of rape against a child.
Linda Strudwick, defending, insisted it had been a 'spur of the momedernt decision' to fly to England and said van de Velde was not a 'predatory young man.'
Aylesbury Crown Court heard that his victim had later self-harmed after the trauma of her encounter with him.
Judge Francis Sheridan even told van de Velde at the time: 'Your hopes of representing your country now lie as a shattered dream.'
The athlete waves to the crowd as he is introduced to them ahead of his first Olympic match
Van de Velde spoke to the media during a press conference at the European Beach Volleyball Championships in The Hague on Tuesday
The Dutch volleyball player (pictured during Netherland's Olympic preliminary Pool B game vs Norway) served just one year of a five-year sentence for raping a 12-year-old girl
And his own defence counsel, Linda Strudwick, also said: 'He's lost a stellar sporting career and he's being branded a rapist. It's plainly a career end for him.'
However an de Velde, sentenced to four years in prison, was transferred from the UK back to the Netherlands to serve the remainder under a treaty between the two countries.
And his own defence counsel, Linda Strudwick, also said: 'He's lost a stellar sporting career and he's being branded a rapist. It's plainly a career end for him.'
However van de Velde, sentenced to four years in prison, was transferred from the UK back to the Netherlands to serve the remainder under a treaty between the two countries.
The treaty allowed for his charges and sentence to be adjusted in line with Dutch law, meaning the charge of rape was changed to 'fornication'.
Due to the punishment being less harsh for this offence in the Netherlands, it mean van de Velde was eligible for release in 2017, having only served one year of his original sentence.
Following his release, he said: 'I do want to correct all the nonsense that has been written about me when I was locked up.
'I did not read any of it, on purpose, but I understand that it was quite bad, that I have been branded as a sex monster, as a paedophile. That I am not, really not.
'Everyone can have their opinion about me, but it is only fair if they also know my side of the story.'
The treaty allowed for his charges and sentence to be adjusted in line with Dutch law, meaning the charge of rape was changed to 'fornication'.
Due to the punishment being less harsh for this offence in the Netherlands, it mean van de Velde was eligible for release in 2017, having only served one year of his original sentence.