The Dutch royal family have congratulated the Netherlands’ Olympic team on social media, saying how proud they are of the success of the Dutch athletes in Tokyo. The Netherlands now has a total of 23 medals
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima congratulated Dutch Olympians this week after the Netherlands won its 20th medal of the competition. In a statement shared on the royal family’s Instagram account, the couple said they “proudly congratulate the winners,” highlighting the historic victory of Sifan Hassan who brought the Netherlands’ its first athletics gold since 1992.
The Netherlands got off to a slow start at the Olympics, missing out on a handful of medals. Things picked up last Wednesday, when the country had its most successful Olympic day ever, winning a total of eight medals in the span of just a few hours.
There are only a few days left until the closing ceremony, but there are still a couple of chances for Dutch athletes to bring home medals. The women’s hockey team is in with a chance of winning gold after beating Great Britain in the semi-finals on Wednesday. There are also some opportunities for the Dutch to win big in track cycling, while Hassan is still set to compete in the women’s 1500 metres and 10.000 metres this week.
With a total of 23 medals - six of which are gold - the Netherlands is now in tenth place in the medal table. The Dutch team already has more medals than in Rio in 2016, and could potentially beat the record of 25 medals (12 gold) set at the Sydney Games in 2000