Steven van de Veldeconvicted in 2016 by the rape of a minorwas selected by the Dutch beach volleyball team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Gamesthe Dutch Volleyball Federation confirmed on Thursday.
The player, who is now 29 years old, was sentenced to four years in prison after admitting the rape of a 12-year-old girlaccording to the British newspaper The Telegraph.
The athlete served part of his sentence in Great Britain and was then transferred to the Netherlands, where he ended up beingibered before returning to volleyball in 2017.
The support of the Dutch Volleyball Federation
“We know Steven’s story,” declared Michel Everaert, secretary general of the Dutch Volleyball Federation (Nevobo) it’s a statement. “He was found guilty at the time under English law and served his sentence,” he added.
Experts consulted by Nevobo and by Dutch Olympic Committee They estimated that there was “no possibility” that Van de Velde would reoffend, he stressed.
Michel Everaert still believes that the player has been “fully reintegrated into the Dutch volleyball community” and that he is showing himself to be “a professional and an exemplary human being, so there is no reason to doubt him since his return.”
According to the Dutch Federation, The player admitted to having made “the biggest mistake” of his life in his youth.
“I can’t turn back, so I will have to bear the consequences“, he declared.
Source: Ambito
