Thank you dear subscribers, we are overwhelmed with your response.
Your Turn is a unique section from ThePrint featuring points of view from its subscribers. If you are a subscriber, have a point of view, please send it to us. If not, do subscribe here: https://theprint.in/subscribe/
When Steven Van de Velde from the Netherlands made his Olympic beach volleyball debut earlier last month, there were boos from the audience. As he walked down the beach, he was shadowed by his ugly past — the fact that he was convicted of raping a 12-year-old. Walking with him was also a divide between those who believe he served his sentence and deserves a second chance, and a large group that finds it absolutely unfair that someone with such a black past is in such an immense spotlight.
Between these two groups, there is a 24-year-old woman probably still waking up from the nightmares of that night almost two decades ago.
Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison in Britain in 2016 following the rape of a 12-year-old girl two years earlier when he was 19. After serving part of his sentence there, he was transferred to the Netherlands and has been competing in beach volleyball again since 2017. Today, as he participates in the Olympics representing his team, the world is torn.
Supporters argue that he completed his sentence, is regretful of his actions, and has admitted that it was the worst mistake of his life. He is now a married man and deserves a second chance, they contend.
Rightly so. He deserves a second chance, which explains why he could marry and is now leading a normal life.
But the Olympics is different. The Olympics is more than a second chance. The Olympics sends a message to all the survivors out there that they are alone if their culprit is exceptional at the skill they possess. It also sends a message to all rapists and potential molesters that rape may pause their lives, but it doesn’t stop them.
It is ironic that these are the messages emanating from the Olympic grounds. Weren’t the original values of Olympism, as expressed in the Olympic Charter, to “encourage effort,” “preserve human dignity,” and “develop harmony”?
From what we have known all our lives, the goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport.
A rape is not like a murder. A murder can happen in a fit of rage. A murder can stem from a sense of injustice. This does not mean a murder is forgivable. It just means that, in certain circumstances, a murder can be viewed in a different light. But not rape. Rape is rape — one person stooping to the lowest to exert power over another, stripping them of their sense of self, dignity, and respect, all for carnal pleasure or frustration. A rape cannot be forgiven in any light. A rapist can get a second chance but can never be allowed to step out of the crime they committed. A rapist can never be seen minus the act of the crime they did. But this year, when Van de Velde plays for the Netherlands, he will be given a pedestal he definitely shouldn’t be around.
As we celebrate the spirit of the Olympics, we must ask ourselves: What values are we truly endorsing? Are we prioritizing the redemption of a few over the dignity and healing of countless survivors? The answers to these questions will shape the future of not just the Olympics, but of society’s moral compass.
Rape and sexual assault have often been trivialized in our society. The fact that, in a number of countries, rapists can marry their victims to escape prosecution is a horrific way of sanitizing a crime as heinous as rape through such permissible acts. When Steven Van de Velde walked on the Olympic ground, he was not just representing his country. He was representing centuries-old injustice that continues to subjugate women and remind them time and again that no matter what age they are in, they have no right over their body or mind, and that the vultures can feed on them and still not be treated as predators.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint