Steven van de Velde, the Dutch beach volleyball player who served time in prison for rape, received a mixture of boos and applause when he was introduced before his opening match on Sunday at the Paris Games.
Van de Velde was greeted with only a handful of boos when he first took the sand for warmups, but the hooting was louder for the more formal pre-match introduction. His teammate Matthew Immers – and all the other players appearing at the Eiffel Tower Stadium so far in the Summer Games – received nothing but cheers.
He raped a 12 year old girl and served 1 year in prison before his country rescued him and set him free.