Steven van de Velde Raped A Child – Why Should He Compete At ...

This article references child sexual assault and rape.

Steven van de Velde once dreamed of an elite sporting career. This dream was “shattered” in 2016 when he pleaded guilty to raping a then-12-year-old child two years before. He was given a four-year sentence but served only 12 months in a Netherlands prison.

During the trial, his defence Linda Strudwick, declared, “He has lost a stellar sports career and has been branded a rapist […] It’s plainly a career end for him.”

But hang about! Van de Velde is competing at the Summer Olympics in Paris! He'll be playing elite beach volleyball all summer – he may even win a medal! Yep, in an extraordinary turn of affairs, Van de Velde has overcome all adversity to achieve his wildest dreams. Cue the BBC montage.

A source close to Van de Velde reportedly said, “He knows he committed a big, big mistake, but he has tried to satisfy every requirement to resurrect his dream of having an elite sports career. He knows this black period will be brought up every time he competes, especially at the Olympics, and he is prepared for the criticism.”

That's right, raping a child is just a mistake – sorry, a “big, big” mistake – that shouldn't stand in the way of men achieving their dreams.

Not content with playing the fool, Van de Velde is also comfortable playing the victim. After his release from prison in 2018, he told Dutch broadcaster NOS, “I made that choice in my life when I wasn’t ready; I was a teenager still figuring things out. I was sort of lost, and now I have so much more life experience, aside from just being incarcerated.”

The discourse surrounding Steven Van de Velde largely focuses on his ‘mistakes’, his lapses of judgment, and his personal growth. Why is such little thought extended to the now 22-year-old woman who was raped by him as a child? How might it feel for her to see his name trending on social media? How might it feel for her to watch the Olympics, knowing her rapist could appear on screen at any moment? How might it feel to be the footnote in a story about your own trauma?

I know from my own personal experiences – as well as my previous work with survivors in a women's refuge – that sexual violence changes the trajectory of your life forever. For many people who've survived sexual abuse, particularly child sexual abuse, the trauma is simply inescapable. It can warp your ability to trust, wreaking havoc on personal and intimate relationships. It can leave you with psychological damage, increasing your risk of self-harming, suicide, depression, and anxiety. It can even increase your likelihood of being diagnosed with a chronic illness, such as type 2 diabetes or heart disease, in later life.

That's not to say there isn't life after sexual or physical abuse – there is, and it can be beautiful – but it's not a given.

While life can be touch-and-go for survivors, you can often rely on their abusers to bounce back – especially if they're in the public eye.