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Convicted child molester is not allowed into the athletes’ village at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Gillberg
Convicted child molester is not allowed into the athletes’ village at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde is allowed to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris despite his previous conviction for the rape of a minor, but is banned from the athletes’ village, RadarOnline.com has revealed.

Van de Velde, now 29, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for raping a 12-year-old girl he met online when he was 19. Although he was released in 2017, the effects of his actions continue to haunt him as he competes on the world stage.

Safety concerns have increased after Van de Velde qualified for the Olympics,

In response, he will follow the instructions of the Dutch Olympic Committee, not stay in the Olympic Village and refrain from any interaction with the media.

Pieter van den Hoogenband, Chef de Mission of the Dutch Olympic Committee, said: “The changes to Van de Velde’s accommodation were necessary… We have to respect that and help him to perform as a member of the team.”

The decision to allow Van de Velde to participate in the Games has sparked public outrage, with human rights groups expressing their displeasure.

A petition calling on the International Olympic Committee to bar known sex offenders from participation has received considerable support, with nearly 81,000 signatures.

According to reports, Van de Velde’s name is still on the UK sex offenders’ register as of July 25.

After the sexual contact in 2014, Van de Velde advised the girl, whose identity was not made public, to take the morning-after pill.

An arrest warrant was issued against Van de Velde after staff at a family planning clinic alerted the girl’s family and the police because of her age.

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In 2016, he pleaded guilty to three counts of rape of a child.

Van de Velde told NOS in a television interview a year after his release: “I made this decision when I was not ready. I was kind of lost and now I have so much more life experience.”

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