PARIS — The evil that men do lives after them, wrote Shakespeare, and so on Sunday morning there was some booing – some, but not a crescendo – when the Dutchman took the sand.

Above was the Eiffel Tower. Ahead was a first-round match in Olympic beach volleyball against two preening Italians. And behind Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands was a horror that will haunt him every time he appears before friends, Romans, and countrymen.