A senior official with the Dutch Olympic committee has insisted that a convicted child rapist in its beach volleyball team is not a paedophile, in an email seen by the Guardian.

A concerned British man who has lived in the Netherlands for more than a decade, wrote to the Dutch Olympic committee and called the inclusion of Steven van de Velde in the team “a stain on the Dutch national side”. In a reply the Dutch Olympic committee spokesperson wrote: “Steven is NOT a peadophile [sic]; you really don’t think that de Dutch NOC would send someone to Paris who IS a real risk? No, he isn’t a risk.”

There has been mounting public anger at the presence of the beach volleyball player Van de Velde, who was convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl in 2016. Earlier this week the International Olympic Committee faced calls for an investigation into how a convicted child rapist has been allowed to compete at Paris 2024. The IOC has said the selection of athletes for the Games was the responsibility of individual committees.

There has been mounting public anger at the presence of the beach volleyball player Van de Velde, who was convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl in 2016. Earlier this week the International Olympic Committee faced calls for an investigation into how a convicted child rapist has been allowed to compete at Paris 2024. The IOC has said the selection of athletes for the Games was the responsibility of individual committees.

    • Microw@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      A rapist.

      If I’m not completely mistaken, they do psychological assessment on inmates here in Europe. Since they insist he’s not a pedophile then the assessment probably came to that conclusion. No underlying attraction to children, “just” a rapist who chose a child as his victim.

    • croizat@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      A lot of child molesters actually aren’t pedophiles (a minority, even, in some studies). Children are just generally easy targets for abuse

      • ayaya@lemdro.id
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        2 months ago

        I’ve had to explain this so many times. The majority of molesters are not pedophiles and the majority of pedophiles are not molesters. Pedophilia is a disorder, one that people suffer from at that. There is a (almost certainly) sizable group of pedophiles who have never actually done anything wrong but are caught in the crossfire of anger and therefore can’t seek help/treatment.

    • AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      A reformed person. He served his time and was released because he proved he changed. The corrections system in many countries is ment to “correct” bad behavior not simply punish it.

      • gmtom@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Yeah, people are all fro prison reform and advocate rehabilitation over punishment until it’s a crime they have an emotional response to.

      • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        There is no excuse or explanation that makes rape and sexual abuse to anyone, particularly children in any way OK.

        The point of this is understanding the abuser, how they think and operate to the end that knowing can combat their abuse of others.

        To that end, the nuance they are trying to point out is that rapists, while also 90% of the time picking victims they know, aren’t sexualizing children, they are raping, the harm and truama is the point, they are sadistically attacking, they aren’t sexualizing.

        A pedophile is sexualizing children, it’s a paraphillia outside of human sexuality. There are people who sexualize objects, actions, things that aren’t a part of inborn human sexuality, that’s what this is except rather than harmless it’s incredible, inhuman harm.

        Rapists can wait a long time to find an opportunity to rape their victim, or have detailed plans with lots of preparation, but the underlying motivation of the abuse is rape, attack, harm, not sex or sexuality.

        A pedophile will also often have very longterm prep to gain the opportunity to sexually abuse, job choices, religious choices, seeking community positions, and may spend a lot of time grooming their victim for abuse, for them the motivation is sexual. They sexualize children and that’s the motivation of the abuse

        It’s all rape, it’s all child abuse, it’s all traumatic and life damaging, and should carry MUCH harsher sentencing, it should be up there with murdered 1. But in an effort to understand what is happening and how to detect it, prevent it, or expose it, the researched data is important. There are a lot of adults who were themselves victims of abuse whom spend a lot of time researching these topics to combat them. It’s worthwhile.