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Partner of Dutch Rapist Steven van de Velde Firmly Defends His Olympic Selection Despite Backlash, “Like a Second Father to Me”
Matthew Immers defends convicted rapist and teammate Steven van de Velde's Olympic Selection, saying that the latter is “like a second father” to him.
Trigger Warning: This article includes references to rape and sexual abuse
The moral boundaries of elite-level competitions seem to blur more as allegations and accusations keep surfacing. A standard accusation of doping or cheating might make these Olympians seem 'real,' but this week’s revelation will have sickened many Olympic Games fans to the core. What's even more disturbing is the support this person is getting.
Steven van de Velde, the Dutch Olympian allowed to compete in beach volleyball at the Paris Games despite raping a 12-year-old British girl was defended by his playing partner who described him as “like a second father to me.”
Van de Velde refused to answer questions when he arrived in Paris and was confronted by a Daily Mail journalist. Matthew Immers, his teammate, strongly defended him.
“I feel comfortable with him, we take good care of each other,” he said. “I’m 23, he’s 29. He’s also a kind of a second father to me, who supports me. Now we’re going to the Games and it has become a big thing. But everything else has stayed the same.”
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The appalling story of Steven van de Velde, who was convicted of raping 12-year-old child
The story is about Steven van de Velde, a 29-year-old Dutch international beach volleyball player, who will compete in this summer’s Paris Olympics.
He is also a convicted child rapist, having been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of rape involving a 12-year-old British schoolgirl he met on Facebook.
Van de Velde was 19 at the time of the assault. He met the girl on social media and in August 2014, traveled to the UK, allegedly raping her at an address in Milton Keynes. The authorities were alerted because he suggested she get the morning-after pill at a family planning clinic due to her age.
Van de Velde had returned to the Netherlands, but was extradited and arrested in January 2016. A judge at Aylesbury Crown Court handed him a four-year prison sentence, but he was allowed to return to the Netherlands to complete his sentence, only to be released after one year.
Following his detention, Van de Velde 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 pedophile. That I am not – really not.”
A man who pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old when he was 19 fits the Cambridge dictionary definition of “pedophile,” which is “someone who is sexually interested in children.”
Yet now–for reasons only known to the committee of men that make the Olympic team selection in the Netherlands – lucky Steven will get to proudly wear his national colors this summer and participate at the pinnacle of competitive sport.
In a statement, the Dutch Olympic Committee said there was no reason to exclude Van de Velde from the Games: “Since 2018, Steven van de Velde has been participating in international beach volleyball tournaments again, following an intensive professionally supervised trajectory.”
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Australian Olympic chief slams the selection of an athlete guilty of raping a British girl
The Dutch Olympic Committee is introducing special measures around Steven van de Velde, including ensuring he takes no part in media interactions during the Paris Games and stays in secret accommodation away from the athletes’ village.
Dutch Olympic chiefs say Steven van de Velde has “sought and received professional counseling [and] demonstrated to those around him - privately and professionally - self-insight and reflection.”
But his inclusion has been heavily criticized by campaigners and now the Australian team’s chef de mission Anna Meares has questioned the decision to select the 29-year-old.
“If an athlete or staff member had that conviction they would not be allowed to be a member of our team,” Meares said. “We have stringent policies on safeguarding within our team.”
Despite victims’ advocacy groups reacting with horror to the selection of a convicted child rapist at the grandest show in sport, the Dutch delegation doubled down on his right to participate. “It’s a shame that people talk about him like that,” Immers said. “I know the Steven of today, and I’m happy about that. He’s a very good partner. He’s good company on and off the field, and that’s the most important thing for me.”
Pieter van den Hoogenband, the Olympic champion swimmer now serving as the Dutch chef de mission in Paris, also expressed bewilderment about the strength of the backlash. “He has been active in international sports, the beach volleyball world, for a long time,” he said. “He has played in World Cups, European Championships, but then you see that things are different around the Games. Things are exaggerated.”
The decision by the Dutch has drawn unequivocal condemnation elsewhere. Mhairi Maclennan, co-founder of Kyniska Advocacy, which works for the protection and respect of women in sport, said: “To have a convicted rapist representing their country on a global stage not only goes entirely against the Olympic ideals and commitments, but it shatters the IOC’s vision of building a ‘better world through sport’.”
Joanna Maranhao, coordinator of the Athletes’ Network for Safer Sports, said: “Athletes who compete at the Olympics are often perceived as heroes and role models – Van de Velde should not receive this honor.”
Immers’ comments also come after rival nations insisted they would not select athletes with criminal convictions because of existing selection policies, which are left to individual National Olympic Committees to determine.
Disclaimer: If you know someone who is struggling with abuse, please reach out and report about it. There are several helplines available for the same.
