The Netherlands competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 119 competitors, 90 men and 29 women, took part in 72 events in 16 sports.
Medalists
The Netherlands finished in 16th position in the final medal rankings, with three gold medals and five medals overall.
Gold
Hennie Kuiper — Cycling Road, Men's Individual Road Race
Wim Ruska — Judo, Men's Heavyweight
Wim Ruska — Judo, Men's Open Category
Silver
Mieke Jaapies — Canoe, Women's Flatwater K-1 500m
Bronze
Roel Luynenburg and Ruud Stokvis — Rowing, Men's Coxless Pairs
Athletics
Men's 800 metres
Sjef Hensgens
Heat — 1:51.2 (→ did not advance)
Men's 1500 metres
Haico Scharn
Heat — 3:41.4
Semifinals — 3:44.4 (→ did not advance)
Men's 5000 metres
Jos Hermens
Heat — DNS (→ did not advance) (left Munich after the murder of the Israeli athletes)
Boxing
Men's Welterweight (– 67 kg) James Vrij First Round — Bye Second Round — Lost to János Kajdi (HUN), 1:4
Men's Light Middleweight (– 71 kg) Anthony Richardson First Round — Bye Second Round — Defeated Svetomir Belić (YUG), 3:2 Third Round — Lost to Loucif Hamani (ALG), TKO-2
Canoeing
Cycling
Eleven cyclists represented the Netherlands in 1972.
Individual road race
Hennie Kuiper — 04:14:37 (→ Gold Medal) Piet van Katwijk — 04:15:13 (→ 11th place) Cees Priem — 04:15:13 (→ 12th place) Fedor den Hertog — 04:15:13 (→ 25th place)
Team time trial
Fedor den Hertog
Hennie Kuiper
Cees Priem
Aad van den Hoek
Sprint
Klaas Balk
Peter van Doorn
1000m time trial
Peter van Doorn
Final — 1:08.09 (→ 11th place)
Tandem
Klaas Balk and Peter van Doorn → 7th place
Individual pursuit
Roy Schuiten
Team pursuit
Ad Dekkers
Gerard Kamper
Herman Ponsteen
Roy Schuiten
Diving
Women's 3m Springboard
Mariette Dommers — 239.40 points (→ 23rd place)
Women's 10m Platform
Annita Smith — 156.99 points (→ 27th place)
Equestrian
Fencing
One fencer represented the Netherlands in 1972.
Men's sabre
Eduard Ham
Gymnastics
Hockey
Men's Team Competition
Preliminary Round (Group B) Drew with India (1-1) Defeated Poland (4-2) Defeated Kenya (5-1) Defeated New Zealand (2-0) Defeated Mexico (4-0) Lost to Great Britain (1-3) Defeated Australia (3-2) Semi Final Round Lost to West Germany (0-3) Bronze Medal Match Lost to India (1-2) → 4th place
Team Roster
André Bolhuis
Marinus Dijkerman
Thijs Kaanders
Coen Kranenberg
Ties Kruize
Wouter Leefers
Flip Lidth de Jeude
Paul Litjens
Irving van Nes
Maarten Sikking (gk) Frans Spits Nico Spits Bert Taminiau Kick Thole Pieter Weemers Jeroen Zweerts
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Three male pentathletes represented the Netherlands in 1972.
Men's Individual Competition: Jan Bekkenk — 4391 points (→ 46th place) Rob Vonk — 4153 points (→ 53rd place) Henk Krediet — 3786 points (→ 58th place)
Men's Team Competition: Bekkenk, Vonk, and Krediet — 12340 points (→ 18th place)
Rowing
Men's Coxless Pairs
Roel Luynenburg and Ruud Stokvis
Heat — 7:26.80
Repechage — 7:38.51
Semi Finals — 7:41.86
Final — 6:58.70 (→ Bronze Medal)
Men's Coxed Pairs
Bernard Luttikhuizen, René Kieft and Herman Zaanen
Heat — 8:00.15
Repechage — 8:17.37 (→ did not advance)
Men's Coxed Fours
Wim Grothuis, Evert Kroes, Jan Willem van Woudenberg, Johan ter Haar, and Kees de Korver Heat — 6:53.30 Semi Finals — 7:23.66 B-Final — 7:05.83 (→ 7th place)
Men's Eights
Henk Rouwé, Jannes Munneke, Frank Mulder, Hans Huisinga, Jan van der Vliet, Herman Eggink, Bram Tuinzing, Pieter Offens, and Rutger Stuffken Heat — 6:13.03 Semi Finals — 6:31.70 B-Final — 6:23.55 (→ 9th place)
Sailing
Shooting
Three male shooters represented Netherlands in 1972.
50 m rifle, prone
Willy Hillen
Skeet
Ben Pon
Eric Swinkels
Swimming
Men's 200m Freestyle
Peter Prijdekker
Heat – 1:58.78 (→ did not advance, 18th place)
Men's 400m Freestyle
Ton van Klooster
Heat – 4:11.72 (→ did not advance, 17th place)
Men's 1500m Freestyle
Ton van Klooster
Heat – 16:34.77 (→ did not advance, 12th place)