The Olympian was convicted in 2016 of having sex with a 12-year-old girl in England. He served a combined 13 months in prison in Britain and the Netherlands.
, received a mixture of boos and applause when he was introduced before losing his opening match on Sunday at the Paris Olympics .
The 29-year-old Olympic rookie was greeted with only a handful of boos when he first took the sand for warmups, but the hooting was louder for the more formal prematch introduction. Immers — and all the other players appearing on the sand so far in the Summer Games — received nothing but cheers.
Van Vliet said the decision not to make Van de Velde available was aimed at keeping the focus on the athletic competition. “I think Steven is a really good example from how he is right now,” Immers said. “I am enjoying it very much to play with him. What is in the past is in the past. He had his … punishment and now he’s really, really kind. For me, that’s a big example that you grew. You learned a lot from it. And of course, what happened in the past, I don’t know. It’s not good, of course. But right now we’re trying to enjoy it and go for the next round.
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