The Netherlands competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States. 136 competitors, 82 men and 54 women, took part in 74 events in 15 sports.
Reiner Klimke was a German equestrian, who won six gold and two bronze medals in dressage at the Summer Olympics — a record for equestrian events that has since been surpassed. He appeared in six Olympics from 1960 to 1988, excluding the 1980 Games that were boycotted by West Germany.
Theodora Elisabeth Gerarda "Anky" van Grunsven is a Dutch dressage champion who is the only rider to record three successive Olympic wins in the same event. Along with her Olympic successes, she has won numerous medals at the World Equestrian Games (WEG), and is the only rider to have competed at every WEG since they began in 1990. Between 1990 and 2006, she competed at the Games in dressage, but in 2010 she was named as part of the Dutch reining team, marking a major change in discipline.
The equestrian events at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics included dressage, eventing, and show jumping. All three disciplines had both individual and team competitions. The host country, Germany, had a stellar year, winning both individual and team gold in every equestrian event, as well as individual silver in dressage. The competitions were held from 12 to 16 August 1936. Moderately priced tickets meant huge crowds at all equestrian events, with 15,000–20,000 spectators at any time during the dressage competition, 60,000 on the endurance day of eventing, and 120,000 for the Nations Cup in jumping.
Nicole Uphoff is a German equestrian who competes in the sport of dressage. She won four gold medals in individual and team competition at the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics. Riding her star horse, Rembrandt, Uphoff also won numerous other international competitions, including the World Equestrian Games and the European Dressage Championships.
Hans Peter Minderhoud is a Dutch dressage rider.
Adelinde Cornelissen is a Dutch dressage rider.
Edward Gal is a Dutch dressage rider. He and the stallion Totilas, were triple gold medalists at the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games, becoming the first horse-rider partnership ever to sweep the three available dressage gold medals at a single FEI World Games. Going into the 2010 Games, they had amassed multiple world-record scores in international competition, leading one American journalist to call them "rock stars in the horse world". After the World Equestrian Games, Totilas was sold to German trainer Paul Schockemöhle. Gal continues to be successful training and competing dressage horses at the international level. Despite the success, he has been criticised to be harsh trainer who creates stressed and fearful horses.
Totilas, also known from 2006 to 2011 as Moorlands Totilas, and nicknamed "Toto", was a Dutch Warmblood stallion standing 17.1 hands high who was considered to be one of the most outstanding competitive dressage horses in the world, the first horse to score above 90 in dressage competition, and the former holder of the world record for the highest dressage score in Grand Prix Freestyle Dressage.
The Netherlands competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. Dutch athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games since their official debut in 1908, with the exception of the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, which the Netherlands boycotted because of the Soviet invasion of Hungary. The Netherlands National Olympic Committee sent the nation's smallest delegation to the Games since 1988. A total of 175 athletes, 95 men and 80 women, competed in 18 sports.
Gestion Bonfire, or Bonfire for short, was an Oldenburg gelding that competed in dressage with Dutch rider Anky van Grunsven. Between 1991 and 2000, the pair competed in multiple national and international championships, including three Olympic Games and two World Equestrian Games. They won one gold medal and four silver medals at the Olympics and one gold and three silvers at the World Equestrian Games. Although known for having a hot temperament, Bonfire mellowed as he aged, becoming one of Van Grunsven's best horses – until she found his replacement, Salinero, she did not think she would ever find a horse to match Bonfire's talent. A statue of Bonfire stands in Van Grunsven's home town of Erp.
Maikel van der Vleuten is a Dutch show jumping rider. He was born in Geldrop. He competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where he won a silver medal in team jumping and finished 37th in the individual.
The Netherlands competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's official debut in 1900, Dutch athletes had competed at every edition of the Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, with the exception of the sparsely attended 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis and 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, which the Netherlands boycotted because of the Soviet invasion of Hungary.
Diederik van Silfhout is a Dutch Olympic dressage rider. Representing the Netherlands, he competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics where he placed 4th in the team and 11th in the individual competitions.
Laura Graves is an American dressage rider. She represented the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics where she won a bronze medal in the team dressage competition. After winning double silver medals at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon, NC, Laura became the first American dressage rider to be ranked No. 1 in FEI World rankings, aboard her longtime partner Verdades.
Maud van der Meer is a former Dutch competitive swimmer. She won the gold medal at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay and the silver medal at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay.
The 2015 European Dressage Championships was held between August 12 and August 16, 2015 in Aachen, Germany. It formed part of the 2015 FEI European Championships; other disciplines included were jumping, reining and vaulting. It also served as a 2016 Olympics qualifier with team quotas in dressage awarded to the best three teams not already qualified nations.
Ben Schwietert is a Dutch competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle.
Sönke Rothenberger is a German Olympic equestrian. He represented his country at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he finished in 19th place in the individual dressage competition. He was also part of the German dressage team which won the gold medal in the team dressage competition.
Willem Egidius Johannes "Wim" Ernes was a Dutch equestrian dressage coach from Schimmert. Ernes was seen as an icon within the Dutch equestrian sport. He was twice the coach of the Dutch national dressage team, his first from 1993 to 1996 and the second from 2013. During his first period the Dutch dressage team won the silver medal at the 1994 World Championships and the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. During his second period the Dutch dressage team won the silver medal at the 2013 European Championships, the bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships and gold at the 2015 European Championships.
