Well, if they won't send him home, we should all just start calling the team "the Dutch Rapists".
Maybe if enough people do it, they might find a conscience?
Considering beach volleyball is 2v2, and the ONLY person in that team who has ZERO say in this is his unfortunate partner who would be the only other person in the limelight sharing that title, how about no?
How about yes, maybe the poor team mate would then step down to not share the limelight with a child rapist (since lets face it they are already going to be bearing that). In any case if 50% of your team are convicted rapists then I think it is fair that the team is called "The Dutch Rapists" I mean we call stuff with 30% animal in it "meat"
how about no?
I would rather not go to the Olympics than to pair up with a convicted child rapist
And if this partner had some moral fiber, maybe that would have been enough to get the completely spineless committee to find another volleyball player that, through some luck or maybe witchcraft, happened to not to get a 12 year old drunk in order to rape her repeatedly
On one hand, the Olympic Games are a sporting event and past criminal convictions should not automatically disqualify someone from competing
But on the other hand, he raped a twelve year old girl. That's irredeemable.
Looking at the Dutch IOC website it looks like "internationalaffairs@nocnsf.nl" is their email address if you had anything you might like to say to them
If there's a reason why he's "not a pedophile" as they claim, let's hear their reasoning. Miscarriages of justice do occur, but there's no outcry that this dude got a raw deal. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, I'll trust the verdict of the court, indicating that Steve van de Velde is a pedophile.
Be prepared for the "ephebophile" argument, which, if Wikipedia is to be believed anyway, is actually for ages 15-19, but it won't stop those who have twisted their minds into a knot to explain this away.
Or the "if there's grass on the field, play ball" argument (which is kind of ironic given the popularity of shaving it all off again.) which covers anyone who shows any sign of adolescent hair growth.
Or "she was asking for it / totally wanted it / shouldn't have been acting that way / shouldn't have been dressed like that".
Because those are all the soundest of arguments.
But the unspoken reason will be: "He's rich and famous and therefore he can do what the hell he wants with no consequences. F--k you."
How Roman Polanski of him
And the Donner Party weren't cannibals!
That girl would be 20 by now. Probably out trying to study or looking for a job, and has to see his face broadcast on the largest stage in the world...
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