Allowing into the Olympics a Dutch athlete convicted of raping a child is a disgrace

Beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde will represent his country at the Paris Olympics – having spent a year in jail for raping a 12-year-old British schoolgirl he met on Facebook. What is the Dutch Olympic Committee thinking, asks Gemma Abbott

Beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde: ‘I have been branded as a sex monster, as a paedophile. That I am not – really not’ (Getty)

In the run-up to major sporting events, there are always stories that surface about the competing athletes – tales of triumph in the face of adversity, incredible recoveries from injury, their superhuman dedication. An athlete’s “life journey” is what makes sport so compelling to watch.

Then, occasionally, a far-less palatable story pops up: doping, cheating, an offensive remark made in a press conference. We’re used to sportspeople being “real”. But this week came a revelation that will have sickened many fans of the Olympic Games to the core. I cannot be alone in now questioning the moral boundaries of elite-level competition.

The story concerns a Dutch international beach volleyball player, 29-year-old Steven van de Velde, who this week qualified to compete for his country in this summer’s Paris Olympics.