Team Netherlands - Profile

Highlights: The Netherlands has been represented by athletes at every edition of the Paralympic Games, and hosted the 1980 Games in Arnhem. By a distance, its most successful sport at the Games is swimming, with Dutch swimmers claiming more than 400 Paralympic medals. The NPC has also amassed more than 100 podium finishes in athletics at the Paralympic Games, with table tennis, wheelchair tennis and cycling its next most successful sports.

Wheelchair tennis player Esther Vergeer is among the NPC's most decorated Paralympians, and her seven gold medals is four more than any other wheelchair tennis player at the Paralympic Games. She dominated the women's singles event between 2000 and 2012, winning all four titles on offer, and claimed three out of four women's doubles gold medals in that period. The only 'blemish' on her Paralympic record was a doubles silver in 2008, when she and partner Jiske Griffioen lost out to compatriots Korie Homan and Sharon Walraven.

Swimmer Marijke Ruiter won a number of gold medals between the 1972 and 1976 Games, including back-to-back titles in the women's 5 100m breaststroke and 5 100m backstroke. In 1988 Ruiter was also part of the Netherlands wheelchair basketball team that won bronze in Seoul. Frits Hildebrandt claimed several golds in swimming between 1976 and 1984, including titles in the men's F 50m freestyle, F 50m breaststroke, F 50m backstroke and F 3x50m individual medley at the 1976 Games.

At Rio 2016 the Netherlands won 17 gold medals, including two each for swimmer Liesette Bruinsma, cyclist Alyda Norbruis, wheelchair tennis player Jiske Griffioen, and athletics competitor Marlou van Rhijn.

Anthem Title: Het Wilhelmus [The William]

Anthem Composer: Words by Philips van Marnix van Sint Aldegonde, music by Adrianus Valerius.

Anthem Inducted: 1932

Official NPC Name: National Paralympic Committee of the Netherlands

IPC Recognition Date: 1989

Delegation President: Raymon Blondel

First OG/PG Appearance: 1960

Number OG/PG Appearances: 16 [Tokyo 2020 included]

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