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Olympics 2024: Dutch Athletes Denied Participation

One of the players denied at the Olympics 2024: Joost Luiten. (Image: Getty)
One of the players denied at the Olympics 2024: Joost Luiten. (Image: Getty)

As Golf Digest proposes, the dream of competing in the Olympics 2024 has been dashed for Darius van Driel and Joost Luiten among the men and Dewi Weber among the women. The Dutch Olympic Committee or the Dutch Sports Federation (NOC/NSF) is responsible for this. Despite meeting the qualification criteria of the International Golf Federation (IGF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the national committee has denied these athletes participation.

According to IGF and IOC rules, the top 15 in the Olympic Golf Rankings (OGR), based on the golf world rankings, qualify – with a maximum of four athletes per country. The 60-player field is then filled with the best outside the top 15, with a maximum of two participants per country. For the Netherlands, this includes Darius van Driel and Joost Luiten among the men, as well as Anne van Dam and Dewi Weber among the women. However, the Dutch Olympic Committee has its own criteria for golf.

Olympics 2024: Dutch Committee Blocks Participation

The Dutch Olympic Committee requires a “realistic chance” of placing in the top eight across all sports to approve Olympic participation. To meet this expectation, the committee has set stricter criteria than the IOC and IGF.

These criteria state that women must be placed in the top 24 and men in the top 27 of the Olympic Golf Rankings (OGR). None of the four previously mentioned athletes meet this criterion. Anne van Dam is still in because she took advantage of an opportunity created in the fall. If a Dutch golfer is in the top 59 of the OGR, a top-8 finish in a highly competitive tournament is sufficient. The athletes could select eight events in advance where such a result would count. With her second place at the Ladies European Tour Championship 2023, Van Dam was the only one to achieve the required placement.

Van Driel, Luiten, and Weber will have to watch as others compete for Olympic honors and medals in August. Dewi Weber expressed her disappointment in an interview with Golf Digest: “Our own country says, we don’t think you’re worthy to be at the Olympics, and you’re not worth representing the Netherlands.” It’s such a hurtful and sad message to elite athletes like her, Weber said. She also mentioned in the interview that the athletes and the golf association would even pay for the trip themselves.

Joost Luiten also expressed his sadness on X: “I am very sad that I will not be participating in the Olympics 2024. The @nocnsf will not send me, even though I qualified according to the international golf federation’s criteria and the Olympic criteria. They don’t believe I can make it into the top 8!”

Olympics 2024: Switzerland and Austria Benefit from Dutch Participation Ban

If no solution is found by July 9, the date when the official participant list is announced, Switzerland and Austria will benefit. Among the men, Joel Girrbach from Switzerland would move up, and among the women, Sarah Schober would qualify for Paris. Schober would be the second Austrian golfer in the Olympic competition alongside Emma Spitz, while Joel Girrbach would be the only Swiss golfer among the men.

Former Ryder Cup Player Outraged

Nicolas Colsaerts, Belgian golf professional and former Ryder Cup player, expressed his outrage at the decision of the Netherlands on the platform X (formerly Twitter): “Shocking maneuver by Dutch Olympic Committee… gives a clear indication of lack of knowledge of golf.” Even golfers who are lower in the rankings can win a medal, as Slovakian Rory Sabbatini demonstrated. Sabbatini won silver with an Olympic record round of 61 strokes while being ranked 167th in the world at the time. There is at least hope for the Dutch for the Olympics 2028, as the committee has recently shown willingness for change. For Van Driel, Luiten, and Weber, this is likely only a small consolation for now.