Dutch volleyball player Matthew Immers has spoken out about the 'disappointing' reaction his teammate Steven van de Velde, a convicted child rapist, got during his Paris Olympics appearance.
Van de Velde's participation in Paris 2024 was marred by controversy after it came to light that he had been approved for the squad despite having previously pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old British girl when he was 19 years old.
The athlete was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016, but was released after 13 months and resumed his volleyball career.
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He was confirmed to be part of the Olympics volleyball squad for the Netherlands in June, and made his first appearance at the games on Sunday (28 July), before playing again on Wednesday (31 July).
The Netherlands ultimately beat Chile in the event at the Eiffel Tower Stadium yesterday, but it wasn't with the unwavering support of the fans around them.
Every time van de Velde served during the game, onlookers booed the athlete and made clear they weren't happy with his participation.
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Speaking after the game, Immers criticized those who booed at the event and encouraged people to look forwards, rather than backwards.
"I don’t want to say much about it," he said to reporters. "What was in the past is in the past. I can’t change his past. I’m here to play with him.
"We want to have good results here. There are a lot of people who support us. We do it for them."
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Immers went on to say van de Velde has a 'lot of pressure on his shoulders'.
"I’m OK with that. Mentally we are strong, I am strong, we will get through this together," he said.
"It is what it is. I was disappointed with the fans. We talked on the field and asked ourselves: what do we need from each other? It was worse than in the first game. We need each other on the field, the hugs, the cheering."
John van Vliet, a press officer for the Netherlands team, also defended van de Velde as he said: "It's something that shouldn't be brought up through sports in a tournament that he qualified for.
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"The general matter of sex convictions or sex-related crime is a much bigger issue than sport but in his case we have a person who has been convicted, who did his sentence and did everything afterwards that he can do to compete again."
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org.
Emily Brown