Netherlands (NED)

The Netherlands sent 42 athletes to the 1900 Paris Olympics. After missing the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, the Netherlands has never missed another Olympic Games, although in 1956 it competed only at the Equestrian Games in Stockholm, boycotting the 1956 Olympic Games in protest of the Soviet invasion of Hungary. At the Olympic Winter Games, the Netherlands appeared first in 1928, missed the 1932 Lake Placid Games, but has appeared continuously since. In the Summer Games, the Netherlands has had a variety of successes in different sports but has never dominated any sport. In the Winter Olympics, however, the Netherlands has always been one of the very top nations in speed skating. The Netherlands has won 423 Olympic medals, 133 of them gold. Of these, 130 medals and 45 gold medals were won at the Olympic Winter Games. Speed skater Ireen Wüst has won eleven medals (including five golds) and ranks as the best Dutch Olympic competitor, also with five gold medals. The Netherlands hosted the Games of the IXth Olympiad in Amsterdam in 1928.