Most successful Olympic day in almost 100 years for the Netherlands

While it might still be early in our part of the world, today — Wednesday, July 28 — is already the most successful Olympic day for the Netherlands in almost 100 years. The Dutchies have won six medals in just three hours.

Many people across the nation will be waking up to the great news of the Dutch Olympic team’s successes — yeah, you probably wouldn’t have seen them play out live (unless you’re a night owl or a super-fan) because Tokyo is seven hours ahead of the Netherlands.

Will the Dutch break their record?

Two golds, two silvers, and two bronzes have been won today so far, reports Nu.nl. However, there are still more Dutchies competing today, meaning that a historic record could still be equalled or even improved on.

The Netherlands had their most successful Olympic day ever on August 11, 1928, on their home turf. That’s right, the games took place in Amsterdam — never underestimate the power of the home crowd and abundant supplies of cheese.

On this historic day, the team won seven medals in one day — four golds, one silver, and two bronzes.

Notable successes in cycling and rowing

Remember the cyclist who thought she had won gold earlier this week but it ended up being a silver — oops, huge difference!? Well, she finally got it! Annemiek van Vleuten has contributed two medals to the Dutchies spot on the leaderboard — a silver in the road race, and gold in the time trial cycling event.

The time trial was a particularly successful event for the Dutchies with Anna van der Breggen also bagging a bronze medal. Seems all those years of biking everywhere really paid off for them. 😉

The Dutchies also shone in rowing. The men’s quadruple scull won a gold medal — woohoo! While the men’s double scull and the women’s sweep four each snatched a silver.

That’s not all, the women’s double scull also powered their way to a bronze medal. These Dutchies are on fire!

Medals on previous days

Including these successes, the Netherlands has so far won a total of nine medals in these games.

Prior to Wednesday, Gabriela Schloesser and Steve Wijler won a silver medal in the archery mixed doubles, and Annamiek van Vleuten won her much talked about silver. Arno Kaminga also swam his way to a silver in the 100-meter breaststroke.

The Olympic Games will be on until August 8. The Netherlands record haul was 25 medals at the Sydney Games in 2000. Wonder if they’ll get close to that this year.

Are you following the Olympics this year? What’s your favourite event? Tell us in the comments below!

Feature Image: [email protected]/Depositphotos

Jen Lorimer 🇿🇼
Jen Lorimer 🇿🇼
An avid tea drinker, Jen was born and raised in Zimbabwe. She moved to Utrecht in 2017 to pursue her history degree. She loves people-watching, canoeing the Utrecht canals, and observing how the Dutch come alive in summer. Having been traumatised by a Dutch circle party, Jen wants to help equip other internationals with tips and tricks to survive and thrive in this wonderful flat country.

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