Netherlands at the 2004 Summer Olympics Netherlands at the 2004 Summer Olympics The Netherlands competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. Dutch athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic games since its official debut in 1908. Netherlands, however, boycotted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, because of the Soviet invasion of Hungary. The Netherlands National Olympic Committee (, "NOC*NSF") sent a total of 210 athletes to the Games, 134 men and 76 women, to compete in 21 sports. Baseball, field hockey, and men's volleyball were the only team-based sports in which the Netherlands had its representation at these
Olympic Games ceremony Committee makes a speech. The IOC President then makes a speech before closing the Olympics by saying:"And now, in accordance with tradition, I declare the Games of the [ordinal number of Summer Olympics] Olympiad/[ordinal number of Winter Olympics] Olympic Winter Games closed; and call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in [name of next host city] to celebrate the Games of the [subsequent ordinal number of Summer Olympics] Olympiad/[subsequent ordinal number of Winter Olympics] Olympic Winter Games". Finally, the Olympic flame is extinguished, marking the end of the Games. Olympic Games ceremony Olympic Games