Netherlands at The Olympics

Netherlands At The Olympics

The Netherlands first sent athletes to the Olympic Games in 1900, and has participated in almost all Games since then. In 1956, the nation boycotted the Games in Melbourne as a protest against the Soviet invasion in Hungary just a few weeks before the beginning of the Games. (However, one Dutch rider competed in the 1956 equestrian events, held in Stockholm a few months before the rest of the Games.)

The Netherlands hosted the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The Netherlands has expressed interest in hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics in either Amsterdam or Rotterdam, as a centennial celebration of the 1928 Games.

Prior to the 1992 Olympics, the country name was "Holland" with the country code of "HOL". From the 1992 onward, they have utilized the "Netherlands" and "NED", as an abbreviation of the original Dutch name Nederland.

Dutch athletes have won 266 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, with swimming and cycling as the top medal-producing sports. The nation has won another 86 medals at the Winter Olympic Games, of which 82 have come from speed skating.

Following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010 (which was a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee (NAOC) lost its Olympic license in July, 2011. After the 2012 Olympic Games in London, athletes from the Netherlands Antilles can choose to participate for the Netherlands or Aruba, which has a semi-independent status within the kingdom of the Netherlands. (At the 2012 Games, athletes from the Netherlands Antilles will participate in a unified Olympic team under the IOC flag. However, some athletes have already expressed their wish to represent either the Netherlands or Aruba in London).