Members of the crowd booed convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde as his name was announced at the Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris ahead of his first beach volleyball match of the tournament for the Netherlands.
As he walked onto the pitch with his teammate Matthew Immers, members of the crowd audibly jeered and booed, while some others cheered. The Netherlands lost the match 2-1 to Italy.
X, formerly Twitter, user @cansadaya80 posted the footage on Sunday morning Central European Time.
Van de Velde, 29, was convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl in Milton Keynes, a city outside London, in 2014 when he was 19. He was released in 2017 after serving one year in prison in the Netherlands.
According to court testimony, he had flown from Amsterdam to the U.K. when he was 19 to meet his victim, a girl he knew who was 12 at the time. The court heard that he had gone to the home of the victim, with whom he had communicated on social media before arranging to visit, while her mother was out and had raped her before flying back home.
Van de Velde was later arrested, extradited to the UK, where he was tried, convicted and sentenced to four years in prison. He was transferred back to the Netherlands and resentenced under Dutch law.
His return to sport after his release from prison and subsequent qualification for the Olympics has been the subject of criticism.
Last week, Paula Radcliffe, a former British marathon world champion, issued an apology after facing backlash for previously wishing him "the best of luck."
The Dutch Olympic Committee stated that Van de Velde's return to the sport met guidelines set by the Netherlands Volleyball Federation in their Guidelines Integrity Record, which outlines conditions for athletes to resume competing after conviction.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) previously told Newsweek that following qualification, the nomination of individual team members "is the sole responsibility of each respective National Olympic Committee."
"I understand that in the runup to the biggest sporting event in the world, this can attract the attention of international media," Van de Velde said in a statement posted on The Netherlands' Olympic committee website. "I cannot reverse it, so I will have to bear the consequences. It has been the biggest mistake of my life."
The IOC also said that to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all participants they had introduced "the most comprehensive package of mental-health and safeguarding tools, initiatives and services," stating: "When specific concerns are raised, additional safeguarding measures are implemented as per standard practice."
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