CNN
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A Dutch seashore volleyball participant who served time in jail for raping a baby 10 years in the past will characterize 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 characterize the Netherlands in seashore volleyball for this summer season’s Olympic Video games in Paris.
“We all know Steven’s historical past,” Michel Everaert, normal director at Nevobo – the Dutch Volleyball Federation – stated in a statement.
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, we have now been in fixed contact with Steven, who has now been absolutely reintegrated into the Dutch volleyball group,” 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 told nationwide broadcaster NOS: “I did what I did. I can’t take it again, so I should carry the results. You may decide, in fact. 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 completely happy about it.”
Within the assertion launched by Nevobo, van de Velde stated he’s grateful for the prospect.
“I perceive that within the run-up to the largest sporting occasion on this planet, this will entice the eye of worldwide media,” added van de Velde.
“Due to the second likelihood I acquired from my mother and father, my associates, acquaintances and colleagues, who accepted me once more after the largest 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 lovely 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 needed.”
Nevobo and the Dutch NOC stated in an announcement that they supported van de Velde, including that they, together with the FIVB, had consulted consultants who thought of his likelihood 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 professional steerage of probation and training, amongst others. He has been collaborating in worldwide tournaments once more since 2017,” Nevobo stated in an announcement.
The Dutch NOC added that van de Velde returned to skilled sport on the idea of its pointers, “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 due to this fact a part of the staff,” the committee added.
The Worldwide Olympic Committee advised CNN that the “nomination of particular person staff members, following qualification on the sector of play, is the only real duty of every respective Nationwide Olympic Committee. Due to this fact, we might seek advice from the Dutch NOC for any additional info.”
