Paris Olympics: Convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde eliminated from beach volleyball

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A convicted child rapist has been eliminated from the race for gold at the Paris Olympics.

Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde and his partner Matthew Immers were eliminated in the round of 16 on Sunday with 21-16, 21-16 by the Brazilian duo Evandro Oliveira and Arthur Lanci, to loud applause.

Van de Velde pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old girl in 2014, when he was 19. He befriended the girl on Facebook and flew to England to meet her, where he got her drunk on Bailey’s Irish Cream, had multiple sexual encounters with her, and advised her to take the morning-after pill. He ultimately served 13 months of a four-year sentence after being transferred to the Netherlands, where laws on rape of minors are much more lenient.

The judge in the case called Van de Velde’s Olympic hopes a “shattered dream” when he was sentenced in 2016, but he was back in international competition in 2018 and in the field for Paris four years later. His past has not gone unnoticed, with victim support groups calling for his retirement and fans regularly booing him.

Van de Velde and Immers emerged from the group with a 2-1 record, but Oliveira and Lanci proved to be a different challenge. The Brazilian duo overwhelmed their opponent on their serve and were also stronger at the net.

Here’s an example of the atmosphere: the crowd boo loudly as Van de Velde prepares to serve the ball.

Van de Velde’s hopes, and every Olympic organizer’s fears, of reaching the podium are now dashed, but he can still call himself an Olympian. According to the Associated Press, he didn’t walk through the mixed zone with a reporter after a race, something all Olympians are normally expected to do, but his partner said he needed mental rest:

Oliveira and Lanci will face Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig in the quarter-finals.