Australia leads backlash against convicted rapist Steven van de Velde at the Paris Olympics: ‘Not allowed’

Chef de mission Anna Meares has put Australia at the forefront of a global backlash against a convicted rapist who has been backed to compete for the Netherlands at the Paris Olympics.

Steven van de Velde, 29, was selected to the Dutch beach volleyball team last month.

He returned to the sport in 2017 after serving only 12 months of a four-year sentence, having pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old British girl when he was 19.

Van de Velde met the victim on Facebook and committed the offence in England after travelling from the Netherlands.

His case is under renewed spotlight ahead of the Olympics, with a question directed at Australia’s Tokyo silver medallists Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy in Paris.

Both hesitated for a brief second before Meares volunteered to respond.

“It’s not in our position to comment on other NOCs (national Olympic committees) and their policies that they have in place,” Meares said.

“But what we can comment on is the policies that we have in place with the Australian Olympic team. And if an athlete or a staff member had that conviction, they wouldn’t be allowed to be a member of our team.”

Meares noted Australia has several teenage athletes in the squad.

“We have very stringent policies around the safeguarding within our team,” she said.

“We have full confidences in those policies and the training that we’ve put our staff and athletes through to have awareness.

“We do have a number of athletes under 18 and under 16 and so those policies are well in action for safeguarding of our team.”

Van de Velde has been booked into accommodation away from the village while he has also been banned from talking to the media.

Australia have two teams in the men’s beach volleyball competition but cannot face van de Velde, who will play in Pool B with teammate Matthew Immers, until the knockout stage.

Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis won their spot barely a month ago to join the nation’s No.1 pair Zachery Schubert and Thomas Hodges.

Hodges switched from indoor volleyball to form a high-energy partnership with Schubert, the fun-loving pair both overcoming long-term injuries to also be among the contenders for Paris gold in their Olympic debuts.

“I had double knee surgery after the last Games,” Schubert, who farms crickets as part of a family side business, said.

“Hodgey’s been a huge help during that process. It’s you and your mate competing, for a year-and-a-half over the qualifying period.

“It’s full on; you have to be good mates because you ride the highs and lows. So being here, in Paris, this is what we dreamed about.”

Beach volleyball will take place inside a temporary stadium beside the Eiffel Tower.

“It’s incredible, I mean look at her,” Artacho del Solar said after getting sand between her toes at the venue on Monday.

“It’s just stunning, so special to be playing here, such an iconic event ... it’s one of my favourite cities and I just think the Eiffel Tower is so magical.

“But once I step over those green lines (that border the court), it’s just like everything’s a blur, white noise. I’ll be in the zone.”

- with AAP