Steven van de Velde, the Dutch beach volleyball player who served time in prison for rape, received a mixture of boos and applause when he was introduced before his opening match on Sunday at the Paris Games.
Van de Velde 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 pre-match introduction. His teammate Matthew Immers – and all the other players appearing at the Eiffel Tower Stadium so far in the Summer Games – received nothing but cheers.
I’m no expert, but as far as I know it’s in the “technically possible but so unlikely that it’s a ridiculous defense” category.
Like when then-superstar of cycling Alberto Contador* tested positive for the main indicator of blood transfusion doping and blamed eating a rare steak 🤦😄
*I love that his name sounds super cool in the original Spanish, but if you translate it to English he’s “Albert (the) Accountant” 😂
Cyril Figgis taking his shot at Olympic medals.