Convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde booed while making Olympic debut in Paris

Convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde has been booed by the crowd while making his Olympic debut in beach volleyball in Paris.

The 29-year-old is representing the Netherlands at the Games after being controversially selected by the Dutch team despite his conviction.

In 2016, Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison after admitting three counts of rape against a 12-year-old British girl.

Van de Velde met his victim on Facebook and travelled from Amsterdam to the UK in 2014 before raping the girl at an address in Milton Keynes.

He spent 13 months in prison, one year in Britain and one month in the Netherlands, before being freed.

Van de Velde was released after his crime was re-classified under Dutch law as a lesser offence of "committing indecent acts" and his sentence was reduced, as reported by Reuters.

He later resumed his volleyball career and was controversially selected by the Dutch team to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games, sparking a huge backlash.

The Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC) defended the decision to select Van de Velde, despite opposition from safeguarding campaign groups.

A statement read: "Since 2018, Steven van de Velde has been participating in international beach volleyball tournaments again following an intensive, professionally-supervised trajectory.

"After his release, he sought and received professional counselling. He demonstrated to those around him – privately and professionally – self-insight and reflection."

Van de Velde has been isolated from his Netherlands teammates at the Olympics and has been banned from speaking to the media while in Paris, according to reports.

Former Team GB runner Paula Radcliffe attracted controversy after wishing Van de Velde the "best of luck" ahead of the Games, before issuing a public apology for her comments.

Radcliffe said: "Last night I gave an interview and made some comments that I deeply regret.

"I want to sincerely apologise and emphasise how much I categorically condemn the crime of rape. I am ashamed that my words so inaccurately represented myself. It was a mistake not to clearly denounce this at the beginning.

Boos -and some applause - as Steven van de Velde, who was convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl when he was 19, enters the Stadium with his partner Matthew Immers. The boos were more audible when he was later introduced separately #PARIS2024 pic.twitter.com/yJGjxXKzE9

— Alexandra Topping (@LexyTopping) July 28, 2024

"I absolutely should not have wished him luck and genuinely have no explanation for why I said that.

"I am truly sorry for wrongly expressing my intended views and understand that this statement can in no way repair the damage but hopefully conveys my deep regret."

On Sunday, Van de Velde and beach volleyball partner Matthew Immers made their debut at the Games, losing 2-1 to Italy's Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula at the Eiffel Tower Stadium.

The pair were introduced together to a mixture of both boos and applause, with the same repeated when Van de Velde was individually announced to the crowd.

Van de Velde and Immers will next be in action on Wednesday against Marco and Esteban Grimalt of Chile.