Former British marathon runner Paula Radcliffe has apologized, saying she was “very sorry” for having wished “the best” for the Olympics to a Dutch volleyball player convicted of raping a 12-year-old English girl. The gaffe concerns Steven van de Velde who has only served a quarter of his sentence and has now been called up to the ‘oranje’.
In an interview with LBC radio, the 50-year-old former world record holder had words of encouragement for 29-year-old van de Velde, at the centre of a controversy over his participation in Paris 2024: “I know he is now married and settled down, it is hard to punish him twice, if he has managed to turn his life around after prison and is able to play at the highest level, then I wish him the best”.
“I am mortified that I expressed myself so poorly and did not condemn rape out loud,” she later corrected herself in a series of social media posts, “I believe in second chances but the Olympics should be for those who embody the ideals. I never meant to overlook the crime that was committed.”
The Dutch volleyball player, at the age of 19, had traveled from Amsterdam to Milton Keynes, England, where he raped a girl he met on Facebook. In 2016, he was sentenced to four years in prison but served just 12 months.