Approximately 5 million of the 17 million people in the Netherlands are registered to one of the 35,000 sports clubs in the country. About two thirds of the population older than 15 years participates in sports weekly.
Gerardus Joseph "Joop" Zoetemelk is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist. He started and finished the Tour de France 16 times, which were both records when he retired. He also holds the distance record in Tour de France history with 62,885 km ridden. He won the 1979 Vuelta a España and the 1980 Tour de France.
Kenny van Weeghel is a Paralympic athlete from the Netherlands competing in the 100, 200 and 400 m T54 class wheelchair racing. He participated in the Paralympic games six times already and he has won 6 Paralympic medals among which two golden ones.
The Netherlands competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. This was announced in an official statement on the NOC*NSF website. In the statement they named the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games as a highlight in sports to which a lot of sportspeople, coaches and the Dutch sports fans would look forward. The Netherlands aimed for a top 10 nations ranking in the Olympics as well as a top 25 ranking in the Paralympics; they ended up ranking 12th at the Games.
Kieran John Modra was an Australian Paralympic swimmer and tandem cyclist. He won five gold and five bronze medals at eight Paralympic Games from 1988 to 2016, along with two silver medals at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Stephen Leslie Simmonds is an Australian Paralympic swimmer and disabled waterskiing world champion. In February 1982, at the age of six, his right leg was amputated below the knee after a car knocked him off his bike. After the accident, he took up BMX riding, football, basketball, gymnastics and competitive swimming. He attended St Edmund's College, Canberra. At the age of twelve, he was the first student with a disability to compete at the Australian Primary Schools Championships. At the 1989 FESPIC Games in Kobe, Japan, he won a gold medal, two silver medals and a bronze medal in swimming events. He did not win a medal at the 1990 World Championships and Games for the Disabled in Assen, Netherlands.
Bryce Lindores is an Australian Paralympic tandem cyclist.
Gavin Bellis is an Australian Paralympic rower. He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in rowing and with Kathryn Ross won gold medals at the 2013, 2014 and 2015 World Rowing Championships. He partnered Ross at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Erik Horrie is an Australian wheelchair basketball player and a five-time world champion rower. He was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team. Switching to rowing in 2011, he made an immediate impact in the sport, first winning the NSW State Rowing Championships and then the National Rowing Championships in Adelaide. He has won silver medals at the 2012, 2016, 2020 Summer Paralympics and a bronze at the 2024 Summer Paralympics. He won gold medals at the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 World Rowing Championships. Horrie has selected for the 2024 Paris Paralympics - his fourth Games.
Jonathan Bruce Harris is an Australian blue-water sailor who began his sailing career when he was about ten. He won a gold medal in the Mixed Three Person Sonar the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Stuart Tripp is an Australian cyclist. He won a silver medal in the Men's Road Time Trial H5 at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and competed at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Jonathan Andrew Fox is a British Paralympic swimmer.
Sophie Wells is an English para-equestrian who won three medals at the 2012 London Paralympics, three at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, two at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and two at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Xavier Porras Santana is a Spanish paralympic sprinter and jumper who belongs to F.C. Barcelona and competes in the T11 / B1 category for blind athletes or athletes with a very reduced vision.
Joy Haizelden is a 2.5 point British wheelchair basketball player who was the youngest player to represent Great Britain at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto. She also went to Paris to compete at the 2024 Paralympics.
Denis Tarasov is a Paralympic swimmer from Russia competing mainly in category S8 events. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London he won five medals, including gold in the 50 metre freestyle S8 event. He has represented Russia at two IPC World Championships with a total of 12 medals. At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow he set four world records, two as part of Russian relay teams and two individual records, in the 50m and 100m freestyle S8 events.
Susan Seipel is an Australian Para-canoeist, a gold and bronze medallist in kayak and outrigger canoe at the 2015 and 2016 World Championships. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. another bronze medal at 2024 Summer Paralympics
Peter Genyn is a Paralympian sportsman from Belgium. Initially Genyn competed as a wheelchair rugby player before switching to track and field athletics in 2014 where he competes in category T51 sprint events. In 2016 he became the world record holder in the T51 men's 400 metres sprint.
Vincent ter Schure is a visually impaired Dutch Paralympic cyclist.
Tristan Bangma is a visually impaired Dutch Paralympic cyclist. He is a gold medalist in cycling at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, the 2020 Summer Paralympics and the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
