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The glamorous policewoman wife of child rapist volleyball player Steven van de Velde repeatedly refused to discuss the uproar over her husband’s heinous past and Olympics appearance when MailOnline tracked her down to a tournament in Germany.

Kim van de Velde, 31, who was playing at a pro event, spoke just days after her husband complained in a TV interview that media coverage of the intense backlash to his inclusion in the Dutch Olympic team was ‘hurting’ her and their two-year-old son.

But when asked how she was feeling amid the storm surrounding her husband, the Bremen-born blonde was tight-lipped, insisting ‘I’m not going to comment on that’.

The mother-of-one parroted the same line when pressed on if she was surprised by the scale of hostility to him at the Games in Paris earlier this month.

But she was more forthcoming at how ‘happy’ she was after her and teammate Sandra Ittlinger, 30, beat Lea Kunst and Melanie Paul 2-1 at the German beach tour competition in Kühlungsborn on Saturday afternoon.

Kim van de Velde, 31, was playing at a pro event in Kühlungsborn, Germany on Saturday

Kim van de Velde, 31, was playing at a pro event in Kühlungsborn, Germany on Saturday 

Steven van de Velde (right) is at the centre of a storm after being selected for the Olympics despite having a conviction for raping a child. He is now married to Kim Behrens (left)

Steven van de Velde (right) is at the centre of a storm after being selected for the Olympics despite having a conviction for raping a child. He is now married to Kim Behrens (left)

Convicted child rapist Steven Van de Velde sobbed in his first interview since the Paris 2024 Olympics where he was booed and jeered by spectators

Convicted child rapist Steven Van de Velde sobbed in his first interview since the Paris 2024 Olympics where he was booed and jeered by spectators

She also said it was ‘great’ how she was able to ‘make it work’ juggling her day-job as a policewoman in Stuttgart alongside her professional volleyball career.

Mrs van de Velde’s refusal to talk about her 6′ 6′ tall husband – whom she married in 2022 – is in stark contrast to her previous loved-up posts on social media about their life together.

In December 2021 she shared: ‘It’s probably time to officially announce it. Steven and I are having our baby in March.’

In January 2022, the couple saw in the New Year by getting married.

Posting a series of wedding photos online, she wrote: ‘Mr & Mrs van de Velde. 01.01.2022 My year could not have started any better!’

After their baby was born, she wrote in tribute to her husband: ‘You & me! And now with him! I think I am a witness of pure happiness and love in life!’

Last weekend, it was unclear whether her husband’s woes were at the forefront of her mind on court as Mrs van de Velde put on an animated display with her teammate during their nail-biting match in the sweltering heat.

Prior to the match, Mrs van de Velde was seen training on the practice courts with Ms Ittlinger and a coach before she later sat on a towel on the sand appearing focused on readying herself for the game.

While she declined to be drawn into talking about her husband, Mrs van der Velde was quick to congratulate him on her Instagram page over the weekend, writing the word ‘Yaaaaas’ in response to news that he and teammate Matthew Immers, 23, had taken bronze in the European beach volleyball championships, which took place more than 400 miles away in the Hague, the Netherlands, and finished Sunday.

Mrs van de Velde said it was 'great' how she was able to 'make it work' juggling her day-job as a policewoman in Stuttgart alongside her professional volleyball career

Mrs van de Velde said it was ‘great’ how she was able to ‘make it work’ juggling her day-job as a policewoman in Stuttgart alongside her professional volleyball career

Mrs van de Velde put on an animated display with her teammate during their nail-biting match in the sweltering heat

Mrs van de Velde put on an animated display with her teammate during their nail-biting match in the sweltering heat

She and Ms Ittlinger had further reason to celebrate after they won gold in their tournament, with Mrs van de Velde sharing a photograph of them kneeling in front of each other holding hands, alongside the caption ‘Together we did it! Sandra Ittlinger nice to have you by my side!’

And in a nod to her absent husband’s accolade, she added: ‘Gold in Kuhlungsborn – Bronze in Den Haag’ with a love heart emoji next to it.

The teammates later celebrated their victory with ‘well deserved’ waffles topped with sugar and ice cream, a post on Ms Ittlinger’s Instagram account revealed.

Mrs van de Velde, nee Behrens, has an older brother, Kevin Behrens, who is a footballer for leading Bundesliga team VfL Wolfsburg and has been capped by the Germany national team.

Their parents, mother Ingeborg Behrens and roofer father Sigi Richter, who are no longer together, were reluctant to discuss their son-in-law’s past and the impact on their daughter when contacted by MailOnline this week.

Asked how she was supporting her daughter amid the controversy swirling around her husband’s past, Mrs Behrens said in German from her home in Bremen where she lives with husband Harald: ‘I can’t say anything about that, I have no information about that.’

She was at pains to stress she ‘is not involved’ when asked what she thought about her son-in-law being booed and jeered in Paris.

She added: ‘I tried to watch some of the matches, but it wasn’t really very clear for me, I couldn’t really see them and so I didn’t actually watch much of it.’

She recalled last seeing her daughter and son-in-law at ‘some family celebration, perhaps a birthday or something, but I’m not sure when that was’.

Meanwhile, Mr Richter revealed they had discussed the controversy as a family, insisting in German that ‘everything is now cleared up and everything is fine’.

Behrens (left), a police officer as well as an athlete, dotes on her 6' 6" tall husband and regularly posts loved-up content on social media about their lives together

Behrens (left), a police officer as well as an athlete, dotes on her 6′ 6″ tall husband and regularly posts loved-up content on social media about their lives together

Asked if he had any concerns for his daughter amid the backlash over his son-in-law’s past, he added: ‘No, we talked about it quite openly, you know, the way adults talk about important things, and now everything is fine really.’

Steven van de Velde served just 12 months of a four-year sentence after he was convicted of three counts of raping a 12-year-old British girl in Milton Keynes in 2014 when he was 19.

In a self-pitying interview with Dutch public broadcaster NOS last week, he admitted he was surprised by the ‘scale’ of the controversy over his inclusion in the Dutch Olympic squad.

He said the hoots and whistles throughout his matches, especially when he was serving, made him consider quitting the Olympics but he didn’t want critics to bully him out.

Taking aim at the media coverage of the storm, he branded it a ‘shame’ adding: ‘It’s been ten years, I’ve played more than a hundred tournaments.

She and her teammate Sandra Ittlinger, 30, beat Lea Kunst and Melanie Paul 2-1 at the German beach tour competition

She and her teammate Sandra Ittlinger, 30, beat Lea Kunst and Melanie Paul 2-1 at the German beach tour competition

‘I understand that it’s an issue: should someone with such a past be allowed to stand on such a podium. That’s a legitimate question.’

He also claimed the media coverage was ‘hurting’ his wife, child and teammate.

Shortly after his tearful TV interview made global headlines, MailOnline found the 30-year-old Dutchman at the European Beach Volleyball championships in The Hague, the Netherlands where he was given a rock star reception with parents encouraging their children to have photographs with the shamed sportsman.

Van de Velde happily signed autographs and gave a thumbs up as he and teammate Matthew Immers, 23, posed for photos with little girls who appeared as young as five as well as uniformed members of the Netherlands Red Cross after their win in the Hague.

The disgraced player spent almost an hour relaxing and laughing with fans and friends following his and Immers’ 2-0 set win over Poland’s Piotr Kantor and Jakub Zdybek at the beach stadium’s Centre Court on Thursday afternoon.

In stark contrast to the boos and jeers of Paris, the pair were met with rapturous applause from the mainly home crowd, with spectators even comically bowing down amid thumping dance music following van de Velde’s ‘monster block’ of his opponent’s shot.

One fan even wielded a green banner bearing van de Velde’s name and outside the court, giant flags bore his and Immers’ faces alongside fellow Dutch athletes.

Van de Velde, who sported tattoos including an eight-ball skewered by a bone with the word ‘lucky’, appeared relaxed during the match as he wore his wedding ring and sipped from a water bottle which bore the handwritten message, ‘create the perfect opportunity’.

Behrens is a police officer in her native Germany as well as a professional volleyball player

Behrens is a police officer in her native Germany as well as a professional volleyball player

It was not quite the result they might have hoped for though, as he and his teammate ultimately came third in the tournament, which ended on Sunday.

Van de Velde’s time in the Hague was worlds away from the hostility and isolation he encountered in Paris, where he did not stay with fellow athletes in the Olympic village and he was ferried to and from his matches by van and surrounded by security guards to stop him from speaking to reporters.

His inclusion in the Dutch Olympic squad sparked an almighty row, with victims, campaigners and fans calling for van de Velde to be banned from competing in the Games.

But organisers said they were powerless to stop the Netherlands from sending the athlete who qualified in the usual way.

He and Immers were knocked out in their fourth match in the French capital on August 4 by Brazil’s Evandro Oliviera and Arthur Diego Mariano Lanci.

The Dutch volleyball player (pictured during Netherland's Olympic preliminary Pool B game vs Norway) served just one year of a five-year sentence for raping a 12-year-old girl

The Dutch volleyball player (pictured during Netherland’s Olympic preliminary Pool B game vs Norway) served just one year of a five-year sentence for raping a 12-year-old girl

Van de Velde spoke to the media during a press conference at the European Beach Volleyball Championships in The Hague on Tuesday

Van de Velde spoke to the media during a press conference at the European Beach Volleyball Championships in The Hague on Tuesday 

Van de Velde served just 12 months of a four-year sentence after he was convicted of three counts of raping a 12-year-old British girl in Milton Keynes in 2014 when he was 19.

His defence counsel, Linda Strudwick, said at the time: ‘He’s lost a stellar sporting career and he’s being branded a rapist. It’s plainly a career end for him.’

But he was transferred from the UK back to the Netherlands to serve the remainder of his sentence under a treaty between the two countries.

The treaty allowed for his charges and sentence to be adjusted in line with Dutch law, meaning the charge of rape was changed to ‘fornication’.

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