Former British marathon runner Paula Radcliffe has said she is “mortified” that she wished “best of luck” to a convicted rapist competing at the Olympics.
Dutch beach volleyball player Steven Van de Velde was convicted in 2016 of raping a 12-year-old girl in England two years earlier. He was 19 years old at the time of the attack.
He served a year of his four-year sentence, after being transferred to a Dutch prison.
Van de Velde, now 29, was controversially selected to represent the Netherlands in the Paris Games, which start on Friday.
Steven van de Velde. Pic: Rex Features
The Dutch Olympic committee has moved him away from the Olympic Village to alternative accommodation and banned him from speaking to the media during the games after a wave of criticism over his inclusion in the national team.
In an interview with LBC on Wednesday, the 2015 world marathon champion Radcliffe said that it was a “tough thing to punish him twice” and that she “wished him the best of luck”, drawing parallels with drug cheats who are given second chances in sport.
However, writing later on X, Ms Radcliffe said: “I am mortified that I expressed it so badly and didn’t condemn the rape out loud.”
She said: “I do believe in second chances after serving punishment but think the Olympics should be for those who uphold the ideals (that’s why I poorly brought the doping comparison in).”
Paula Radcliffe holds up the Union Jack flag after winning the NYC half marathon in 2009. Pic: AP
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In other posts, Ms Radcliffe said: “I myself am shocked and disappointed at how I expressed this so badly” and “I really apologise for the way I phrased this. The utter condemnation of the crime in my head went without saying but I should have clarified that.
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“Instead I poorly jumped to explaining why it would be great to exclude all who betray ideals but legally not possible,” she posted.
Dutch Olympic bosses have defended their decision to pick Van de Velde who served part of his jail term in England, before he was sent back to the Netherlands to serve the remainder, where it was adjusted according to Dutch law.
The Dutch volleyball federation (Nevobo) said Van de Velde was “proving to be an exemplary professional and human being and there has been no reason to doubt him since his return”.
The Milton Keynes Citizen reported at the time of his sentencing that Van de Velde flew from Amsterdam to meet the schoolgirl after the pair started chatting online.
Appearing via video link at Aylesbury Crown Court, he wept as he heard his victim ended up self-harming and taking an overdose.