this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2024
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Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde, who served time in prison after he was convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl, won his second match at the Paris Olympics and received an even harsher reaction from the crowd on Wednesday than for his first match.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 232 points 1 month ago (60 children)

“I was disappointed with the crowd, for sure,” Immers said. “I cannot do anything about his past anymore. I’m here to play with him. … So, yeah, I’m disappointed with it. But I think mentally we’re really strong, and I’m really strong to get through this, together. And we’re going to do that.”

Then:

Immers was asked about the reception and said the two spoke on the court and recognized they would need to be extra supportive of each other. Asked if he understood why they received that reception, he said, “I don’t want to talk about that, if it’s OK.”

So they can bitch that people bboed, but he won't acknowledge the reason is he raped a literal child?

Fuck that guy, I hope the whole stadium booes anytime he shows his face.

If he was going to pull the "I'm here for volleyball" then he should shut the fuck up 24/7. Not try to play the victim then refuse to admit why they're booing.

[–] fulcrummed@lemmy.world 39 points 1 month ago (18 children)

I think it is important to distinguish the innocent partner here. Beach volleyball is incredibly demanding, and at the elite level, a very low population sport. It takes athletes their whole careers to just to make the world tour hoping to one day reach the olympics. For Immers he has busted his ass for years and at some point his national body probably paired him up with the other guy. It’s possible he may not have even known about it until they were partners and had established their dynamic and working relationship. Finding and building a team with a partner you click with on the court is hard-earned. I can imagine that Immers is absolutely distraught at the situation he’s been put in. He has a crappy choice here no matter what. Abandon what he’s spent his whole career building up to, now that he’s made it - because of something he had nothing to do with, knowing he may never get this chance again, even if he were to find another available partner… it takes years to learn how to play as a team; or he sucks it up, focuses on his own journey, cops the reflected criticism and hostility and tries to keep his emotions out of it…

It’s shitty either way. He abandons his dream because of someone else’s actions; or he chases them and becomes collateral damage.

Don’t get me started on the poor kid whose life was never the same again, having all this trauma dredged up and shoved back in her face. There’s nothing about this that doesn’t suck.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 91 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (9 children)

I think it is important to distinguish the innocent partner here

Then he can stop bitching that people are booing his partner who raped a fucking 12 year old.

Pick a lane, "no comment" or acknowledge what he did and ask for forgiveness.

This is literally the Dutch team complaining that people are booing, and refusing to acknowledge an incredibly valid reason why it's happening.

Fuck em both.

Like you said, it's a small population of players. Even if this guy was #1 in the Netherlands, if #2 thru 25 said they won't play with a child rapist, the child rapist wouldn't be on the team.

Don’t get me started on the poor kid whose life was never the same again, having all this trauma dredged up and shoved back in her face. There’s nothing about this that doesn’t suck.

You think she forgot till now?

You think she doesn't know his name?

Why is the issue talking about how he's a child rapist and not that the child rapist is in the goddamn Olympics?

Quick edit:

It’s shitty either way. He abandons his dream because of someone else’s actions; or he chases them and becomes collateral damage.

We don't call people heroes for doing the right thing because it's easy and sacrifice free.

But we do call people shit bags for doing the wrong thing for personal gain/glory.

Which is what we're doing here.

Except you, you're out here complaining people booed a guy who raped a 12 year old.

Why?

[–] fulcrummed@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

Wow man, that’s a hot take. I’m not complaining at all. The crowd is upset that the Dutch team have chosen to select a man convicted of a heinous act. I absolutely abhor what that criminal did and in my mind there is absolutely no excusing or trivialising or equivocating on that. It’s unthinkable. I am not putting judgment on the crowd at all. I completely understand why they are doing it.

I don’t believe he was complaining in the interview. A journo asked him the world’s most obvious question and he has nowhere to go. He can’t defend his partner (not should he, not that he wanted to). He can only speak for himself and say it’s hard to get booed when personally you didn’t do the thing and you’ve worked so hard to get here.

I don’t know why you think I have anything but sincere empathy for the poor victim. I’m recognising that having a truly horrific life experience become fodder for the media, years after you last had that chapter of your life made public and the subject of speculation and judgment, must be a terrible ordeal - she will never forget his name or what happened, but there’s a difference between that and having this asshole on the front page of every news outlet for a month. It must be a genuinely traumatic experience to have it be made acute again.

You’re passionate and assertive in your feelings about this. I respect that and I don’t disagree with your sentiments. I don’t think your read meshes with what I was trying to say. I actually think we’re morally pretty well aligned. In the context of your comment, I don’t know many genuine heroes, they do what most people can’t - that’s why they’re so revered. We all know the way, only few actually walk it.

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