Steven van de Velde, Dutch convicted child rapist, would not be on Australian Olympic team, says Anna Meares [Video]

Paris: A convicted child rapist on the Netherlands Olympic team would not have been selected for Australia, according to chef de mission Anna Meares.

The Dutch Olympic Committee has allowed Steven van de Velde to represent the Netherlands in beach volleyball despite being sentenced to four years jail for raping a 12-year-old girl when he was 19.

The International Olympic Committee has said it is up to individual countries to determine who they select.

Meares, Australia’s chef de mission, was asked about the issue on Monday in Paris at a press conference featuring two Australian beach volleyball players, Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar.

“If an athlete or staff member had that conviction, they would not be allowed to be a member of our team,” Meares said.

“We have very stringent policies around safeguarding within our team …