The Olympic volleyball player convicted of raping a child was seen shedding tears after being eliminated from the Paris Games.
Fans were seemingly delighted to see Steven van de Velde, a convicted child rapist, get booted out of the prestigious games after he and his partner Matthews Immers lost their round of 16 match against Brazil 2-0 yesterday.
The 29-year-old was sentenced to four years in a Dutch prison in 2016 after admitting to befriending a 12-year-old girl from the United Kingdom on Facebook, before travelling to her location to have sex with her.
He was 19 at the time.
The sportsman had initially been told that his actions had destroyed his dream of ever representing his country at the Olympics, with Judge Francis Sheridan, who was overseeing the case at the time, giving van de Velde a stern warning during sentencing.
"Prior to coming to this country you were training as a potential Olympian. Your hopes of representing your country now lie as a shattered dream," he told the criminal. "Your actions have wrecked your life and you could, had you never come to England and committed these offenses, have been a leader in your sport."
However, in a dramatic U-turn decision supported by both the Dutch volleyball federation and the National Olympic Committee, he was given the opportunity to represent his home nation this year at the 2024 Paris Games, much to the dismay of sports fans.
But it hasn't been easy for him, that's for sure.
Right from his first match at the Champs de Mars park against Italy's Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula, the 29-year-old was heavily booed every time his name was announced.
Regardless, he and his teammate made it out of the group stages but failed to go any further after being kicked out of the competition by Brazil in straight sets.
On match point, with Van de Velde serving and the crowd still jeering him, a winning spike was delivered to secure the South American nation's place in the next round.
Images showed the Dutch pair sat in their stand with their arms around each other before Immers went to speak to reporters and Van de Velde headed straight to the back.
“It was an emotional roller coaster. I see it that way,” Immers said following their loss. “We fought. We enjoyed every moment. So I’m really proud of that. It was the coolest stadium I ever played in. ... I’m sad that we couldn’t show our level. But everything around it, I enjoyed it."
The volleyball player also went on to address why his teammate didn't stay back to speak to reporters.
“If I can speak for him, after the match we lost, we were disappointed,” Immers continued. “But we said to each other: ‘Look what we did together. Look how hard we fought with all the attention.’ We stayed together. We cried together off the field and said, ‘OK, let’s just enjoy this moment.’
"And we did that. So I’m happy we did it that way," he added.
Immers also stated he and Van de Velde will remain as a unit to go onto the European championships in the Netherlands the week after the Olympics, followed by the Dutch championships.
