Beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde cannot participate in the upcoming world championship in Adelaide, Australia. Van de Velde has not received a visa because he was convicted by an English court in 2016 for sex with a minor, write Australian media.
Although 31-year-old Van de Velde has served his sentence, the Australian government sees his arrival as a security risk. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said: “The government will continue to use all available resources to ensure Australians are safe.”
Van de Velde, already a promising volleyball player at the time, had met the British girl through social media and traveled to Milton Keynes for her. Because he was nineteen and she was twelve, the sex was legally rape, regardless of whether the girl had consented or not.
Van de Velde was held in a British prison for twelve months before being transferred to the Netherlands. There, his conviction under Dutch criminal law was commuted from rape to fornication, his sentence was reduced and he was released a month later.
Booed at the Olympics
Since then, Van de Velde has resumed his volleyball career and became Dutch champion several times. But his past continues to haunt him. Before the Olympic Games in 2024, victim organizations called for Van de Velde to be excluded. Petitions were circulated and foreign media published many stories about him.
However, the Dutch Volleyball Association and sports umbrella organization NOC-NSF continued to support him. They referred to expert advice they had obtained: the risk of recidivism would be nil. Van de Velde was consistently booed during his matches and did not win a medal.
Van de Velde and his team accept the exclusion from the World Cup in Australia, he says The Telegraph. “We took into account that the combination of the policy of the Australian authorities and my past might pose a problem in obtaining a visa.”
The Dutch volleyball association was also “aware” of the possible exclusion, technical director Heleen Crielaard told that newspaper. “We think that is a shame, but we have no choice but to accept the decision.”
Also read
Journalists continue to ask many questions about the participation of beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde
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