who was found guilty of raping a 12-year-old British girl—revealed that he thought about pulling out of the Paris Olympics.
After being found guilty of rape in England in 2016, Van de Velde served 13 months in prison and said the incident was “the biggest mistake of my life”.
While victim advocacy and protection organizations demanded that he be disqualified, the International Olympic Committee said that it was necessary to “allow for the possibility of rehabilitation”.
Van de Velde advanced to the Paris quarterfinals with Matthew Immers, his playing partner.
In each of the four games the two played, the crowd continuously jeered and whistled at Van de Velde.
Though he refrained from speaking with reporters throughout the Olympics, Van de Velde said in a tearful interview with NOS, the Dutch national television, that he thought about pulling out of the games before choosing to compete.
“I thought, ‘I don’t want that,'” he remarked. I refuse to allow anyone to have the authority to bully or remove me from their lives.”
The musician, who is now married and has a young boy, claimed that his performance might have been influenced by the audience’s response.
“So there is certainly a very good chance that it has had an influence on our game,” he stated to NOS.
