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Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands, pictured throughout Day 6 of the Seashore World Champs in Tlaxcala, Mexico, in 2023.
CNN
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A Dutch seaside volleyball participant who served time in jail for raping a toddler 10 years in the past will signify the Netherlands at this 12 months’s Olympics.
Steven van de Velde, who’s now 29, was sentenced to 4 years in jail in 2014 for raping the woman who was aged 12, in line with British media. He was launched in 2017.
He has now been chosen to signify the Netherlands in seaside volleyball for this summer season’s Olympic Video games in Paris.
“We all know Steven’s historical past,” Michel Everaert, common director at Nevobo – the Dutch Volleyball Federation – stated in a press release.
Everaert stated that the federation spoke extensively with the Dutch Nationwide Olympic Committee (NOC), the Worldwide Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and van de Velde earlier than his return to the game.
“He was convicted on the time in line with English regulation and he has served his sentence. From then on, now we have been in fixed contact with Steven, who has now been totally reintegrated into the Dutch volleyball neighborhood,” Everaert added within the assertion.
Van de Velde served a few of his sentence in England earlier than being transferred to the Netherlands, the place he was launched and returned to taking part in in 2017, in line with Nevobo.
In 2018, van de Velde instructed nationwide broadcaster NOS: “I did what I did. I can’t take it again, so I must carry the results. You may choose, after all. It’s the greatest mistake of my life.”
“He’s proving to be an exemplary skilled and human being and there was no cause to doubt him since his return,” added Everaert.
The federation famous that van de Velde was conscious this “black interval in his life” would resurface “however is clearly not joyful about it.”
Within the assertion launched by Nevobo, van de Velde stated he’s grateful for the possibility.
“I perceive that within the run-up to the most important sporting occasion on the planet, this will entice the eye of worldwide media,” added van de Velde.
“Due to the second probability I received from my mother and father, my buddies, acquaintances and colleagues, who accepted me once more after the most important misstep of my then younger life,” he stated.
“I’m additionally grateful to the Dutch volleyball federation, as a result of they supplied me, with clear situations and agreements, a future on this stunning sport once more. However I additionally suppose again to {the teenager} I used to be, who was insecure, not prepared for a life as a high class athlete and sad inside, as a result of I didn’t know who I used to be and what I wished.”
Nevobo and the Dutch NOC stated in a press release that they supported van de Velde, including that they, together with the FIVB, had consulted specialists who thought of his probability of recidivism “nil.”
“After his conviction and sentence, Steven van de Velde returned to the very best stage of sport step-by-step beneath the skilled steerage of probation and training, amongst others. He has been taking part in worldwide tournaments once more since 2017,” Nevobo stated in a press release.
The Dutch NOC added that van de Velde returned to skilled sport on the premise of its tips, “which units out, amongst different issues, the situations beneath which athletes in top-level sports activities can return after a conviction.”
“Van de Velde now meets all of the qualification necessities for the Olympic Video games and is subsequently a part of the group,” the committee added.
The Worldwide Olympic Committee instructed CNN that the “nomination of particular person group members, following qualification on the sphere of play, is the only accountability of every respective Nationwide Olympic Committee. Subsequently, we’d consult with the Dutch NOC for any additional info.”