Dutch Olympic athletes honored in NL

The Dutch athletes who won medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo were honored in the Netherlands on Tuesday. A ceremony was held at Sportcampus Zuiderpark in The Hague, then they were received by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima at Noordeinde Palace, and then they attended a party in their honor on Scheveningen beach.

All the new gold medalists were knighted during the ceremony at Sportcampus Zuiderpark on Tuesday afternoon, NU.nl reports. They received the ribbon from caretaker State Secretary Paul Blokhuis of Sports and were addressed by caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte and chef de mission Pieter van den Hoogenband of NOC*NSF. In addition to the athletes, Alyson Annan, the national coach of the female hockey team, was also knighted.

Cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten had previously been knighted, and therefore received a Chapeau statue. Hockey players Eva de Goede and Lidewij Welten were promoted to officers in the Order of Oranje-Nassau. Tokyo was their third time as Olympic champions, and they were therefore already knighted and had the statue.

After the ceremony, the athletes were received by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima at Noordeinde Palace. They were congratulated by the royals and posed for a group photo with them in front of the palace.

Then the athletes attended a party in their honor on the TeamNL Olympic Festival terrain on the sports beach in Scheveningen. About 400 spectators attended - due to the coroanvirus restrictions, only invited guests were allowed, ANP reports.

The Netherlands won 36 medals in Tokyo, including 10 gold, 12 silver, and 14 bronze.