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.
Franziska van Almsick is a retired German swimmer, former world record holder in 200 metres freestyle. She was multiple World and European champion, in both Long and Short Course Championships.
Kate Louise Howey is a former elite British judoka. She remains the only British woman to have won two Olympic judo medals and shares with fellow Olympic medalist Karina Bryant the record of being the only British judoka to have competed at four Olympic Games.
Marcel Reinier Wouda is a Dutch former swimmer, who became the first Dutch world champion in men's swimming when he won the world title in the 200 m individual medley at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships in Perth, Australia. He was the coach of Olympic champions Maarten van der Weijden and Hinkelien Schreuder at the Nationaal Zweminstituut Eindhoven.
Yael Arad is an Israeli judoka. She was the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona in 1992. She is widely recognized as one of Israel's most successful athletes and is credited with bringing judo into the athletic mainstream.
The Netherlands women's national water polo team is the national team of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was one of the leading teams in the world during the 1980s and 1990s. More recently they are one of the top teams again claiming the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 European Championships. The team is governed by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Zwembond (KNZB).
Dennis van der Geest is a Dutch judoka, who won the bronze medal in the men's heavyweight (+100 kg) division at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He was born in Haarlem, North Holland.
Maarten Johannes Arens is a Dutch judoka. He has been European Champion (1995) in Birmingham in the 86 kg category, 4 times Dutch champion, and winner of the 2000 Tournoi de Paris in the 81 kg category. At the Sydney Olympics he finished in 9th place in the 81 kg category.
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.
Dibora Monick Olga "Deborah" Gravenstijn is a Dutch judoka and Captain in the Royal Netherlands Air Force. She won a bronze medal in the class Women's 57 kg at the 2004 Summer Olympics and a silver medal four years later at the same event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Françoise Harteveld is a Dutch judoka. She began her judo career at the age of 3 at Budosport Mahorokan in Maassluis. Her JudoDad, Coos Henneveld was her mentor and taught her all her skills. Later, his son Rob Henneveld was her coach, and with him she won as many titles and medals as under her JudoDad.
Alice Schlesinger is an Israeli-British retired judoka and sambo competitor. She is a shodan in Judo.
Charline Van Snick is a Belgian retired judoka who won bronze in the women's 48 kg judo at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She also earned a bronze medal at the 2010 European Judo Championships and a silver medals at the 2012 and 2013 European Judo Championships.
Guusje van Mourik she is a Dutch karateka, judoka and boxer. She has a 4th Dan black belt in karate, and is the winner of multiple World Karate Championships, and is in The Guinness Book of Records for winning the most karate medals. She was four times world champion, six times European champion and twenty five times national champion in this discipline in the class 60+ kilograms. Also, she was once Taiko world champion and won several medals at the Dutch Judo National Championships. Guusje first found success she achieved in 1974 by winning a silver medal in judo. In 1982 she became Dutch and world champion karate. In 1987, Gussje was given Order of Orange-Nassau. In 1989 she made her debut as a boxer. In 1992 she became head coach of the women's karate team. Since retiring from competitive karate Guus is now a dental technician.
Natascha Knaven-den Ouden is a cyclist, physical therapist and cycling team manager from the Netherlands. Den Ouden is a four time Dutch National Cyclo-cross Champion. In her active days there weren't any international cyclo-cross championships yet. She won silver in the individual pursuit, at the 1989 World Juniors Track Cycling Championships in Moscow. At that tournament she became friends with Servais Knaven, with whom she married and got four cycling daughters: Britt, Senne, Mirre and Fee. They all ride for AG Insurance-NXTG, the development team of which Den Ouden is the owner, co-founder and team manager.
Monique van der Velden is a Dutch former competitive figure skater. She is a three-time Dutch national champion (1993–95) and reached the free skate at the 1995 European Championships in Dortmund, Germany.
Linda Bolder is a Dutch-born Israeli Olympic judoka.
Sanne van Dijke is a Dutch judoka. She is the 2017 and 2021 European gold medalist in the 70 kg division. She won one of the bronze medals in the women's 70 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She is also a two-time bronze medalist in the women's 70 kg event at the World Judo Championships.
Sanne Vermeer is a Dutch judoka. She is a bronze medalist in the women's 63 kg event at the 2021 World Judo Championships and the 2021 European Judo Championships. In 2019, she also won one of the bronze medals in her event at the European Games held in Minsk, Belarus.
Monique Hoogland is a Dutch retired badminton player from Duinwijck club. Hoogland along with Erica van den Heuvel, won the bronze in Women's doubles at the 1998 European Championships. She is also a 5-time former National champion. During her training session in 1996 for Olympic qualification at the Amersfoort in the Netherlands, she completely tore of her Achilles tendon and missed the Olympic games due to severity of injury.
