Dutch athletes can hope for a record number of medals at the summer Olympics in Paris this year, according to sports data bureau Nielsen’s Gracenote.
With 100 days to go before the games start, Gracenote is putting the Netherlands in fourth place in its virtual medal’s table, with 38 medals across up to 13 sports, two more than in Tokyo three years ago.
Last year, the Dutch Olympics committee and sports federation said it had softened its ambitions for the Paris games, saying that it is no longer only striving for a place in the medals table top 10.
Chef de mission Pieter van den Hoogenband told broadcaster NOS in an interview that the competition will be about the stories, not the medals. This, the broadcaster said, is a “subtle change in course” by the gold medal swimmer, who won Olympic titles in 2000 and 2004.
The Netherlands has been striving for a permanent top 10 place in the medals table for the past 13 years, under the flag “towards a winning top sports climate”.
At the last Olympics in Tokyo the Netherlands came in a record-breaking seventh place with 10 gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze medals.
Gracenote is forecasting 18 gold, five silver and 15 bronze medals for the Dutch squad this time round, with the number of golds putting it in fourth place on the medals table, behind the US, China and France.
Gracenote expects Femke Bol to take the 400 metres title, that Harrie Lavreysen will win three golds in the indoor cycling, the sailing team will take three titles, the rowers’ five and that the men’s and women’s hockey teams will also win gold, according to the AD.
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