Dutch Olympics team officials admit to 'protecting child rapist' as convicted paedophile beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde is allowed to skip post-match interviews - hours after being booed by spectators when playing his first match at Paris 2024

The Dutch Olympic team has admitted to 'protecting a child rapist' after beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde was allowed to skip his post-match interviews.

The 29-year-old was booed by the crowd as he took to the sand court at the Champs de Mars park under the Eiffel Tower for his debut match on Sunday.

Olympic chiefs have ignored a 100,000-strong petition to disqualify van de Velde who was jailed for four years in the UK for raping a 12-year-old British girl in 2014 when he was 19.

The 6ft 6ins athlete, who was wearing the number 'one' in the Netherlands' blue and orange colours, appeared to have no reaction to the negative reaction, taking off his dark, white rimmed sunglasses only to wipe sweat off his forehead.

He and his doubles partner Matthew Immers, 23, were cheered by Dutch fans in the crowd with chants of 'Nederlands', but they were beaten 2-1 in their opening match by Italian opponents.

Team Netherlands have given their rapist player special treatment at the Games, prompting outrage. He has his own accommodation away from the Olympic Village and a squad of bodyguards.

Yesterday he was even allowed to skip media interviews after the match – despite strict rules set by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that obliges all athletes to speak to reporters straight after their competition. 

He is set to play at least two more games in the tournament as the Netherlands face Chile and Norway.

His teammate Immers told reporters Van de Velde was 'not here because he just wants to rest his mind'.

He added he was 'disappointed about all the big attention' the controversy was getting but was not disappointed by his teammate's behaviour, saying: 'No, not at all. I don't want to talk about that.' 

Team Netherlands' press spokesman John van Vliet admitted they were dodging the rules obliging athletes to give interviews, and said: 'There is a different situation for Steven which has been created. We are very much aware that if we bring out Steven here the questions won't be about his sport and his performance.'

Asked if he understood it did not look good, protecting a child rapist, he replied: 'We are protecting a convicted child rapist to do his sport as best as possible and for a tournament which he qualifies for.'

One Dutch fan wrote on social media: 'Friendly reminder that Steven van de Velde should not ever, in any universe, be at the Olympics representing our country after what he did.'

BBC Sports journalist Laura Scott, who was at the stadium, tweeted: 'When van de Velde was individually introduced to the crowd here there was clear booing. Many people I spoke to outside said they were sad to see him here, saying it goes against Olympic values. But some Dutch fans said they would be supporting him as they feel he's done his time.'

After spending 12 months of his four-year sentence in a British prison, the UK authorities sent him back to the Netherlands where he served just one month before being released.

Speaking after Sunday's game, Immers admitted the reaction to van de Velde's past had come as a surprise and he 'didn't see it coming'.

He told Dutch broadcaster NOS: 'We don't like it, of course. That this is happening. Suddenly, after three years, this comes to the surface at such a big tournament.

'Because I've known him for three years and played with him. It came out of nowhere for me, actually. At least that it was so big.'

The 23-year-old said press would have to ask van de Velde himself if he was bothered by the booing - although this is unlikely to happen as he has been told not to speak to the press during the Olympics.

He added: 'People are allowed to have an opinion, but we just want to play the tournament as well as possible .'

The controversy around van de Velde's selection has rumbled on for weeks and showed no signs of abating as the Olympics got underway.

On Saturday, it was reported that an email sent by a a senior Dutch Olympic official insisted: 'Steven is NOT a peadophile [sic]; you really don't think that de Dutch NOC would send to Paris who IS a real risk? No, he isn't a risk.'

A petition calling on Olympic chiefs to kick van de Velde out the Games has gained more than 108,000 signatures, and the British Olympic Association has expressed its anger about his competing.

Set up by Lauren Muir, it states: 'The tarnished record of van de Velde should not be swept under the rug, nor should it stand as a symbol of achievement at an event as prestigious as the Olympics.

'This is about more than just one person; it's about the worldwide image of the Olympics and the kind of society we want to live in.'

In a statement, the Netherlands Olympic Committee last week it said it was 'implementing concrete measures to ensure a safe sporting environment' for all participants.'

'These measures include, at the request of van de Velde, alternative accommodation for van de Velde and no media contact during his stay in Paris,' a spokesman said.

He claimed that the measures were in line with 'standard practice' and had been developed following a 'thorough risk assessment taking into account all affected groups'.

The spokesman said the assessment had reinforced the committee's 'confidence in the safety of all parties involved'.

Van de Velde had returned to the international elite sport level following a previous conviction for a sexual offence in 2014 in the UK'.

'His return was possible following a specialist treatment programme,' the spokesman said.

The furore surrounding this was made clear on his arrival in Paris, when he disembarked a Eurostar train from Rotterdam in the French capital amid heavy security.

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'.

'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.'

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.'

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' - and this then meant he 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.'

Since his release from prison van de Velde has successfully rebuilt his life since leaving prison to the extent that he is now married to a high profile fellow volleyball pro from Germany.

Kim Behrens and van de Velde married in 2022 and have a young son together.

Behrens, 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.