The athletes of Team Netherlands are already in the Olympic Village in Paris 2024, as they boarded the train to the city on Sunday 21 July. The reality is that the Dutch delegation is travelling in groups to the French capital, and while most of the athletes will travel by train, others have opted for the bus. Thus, the Netherlands will be represented by a total of 258 athletes competing in 26 sports.

Among them are gymnasts Lieke and Sanne Wevers, of whom the former has been a standout since 2015, the year she won her first European title in gymnastics, with a gold medal on the balance beam. Also of note are several swimmers who will be representing TeamNL, including Valerie van Roon and Tessa Giele, who both achieved Olympic qualification results at the Eindhoven 2024 Meeting. 

In the case of van Roon, the 25-year-old produced a time of 24.62 in the 50m freestyle with her personal best, while in the 100m butterfly, Giele achieved a new personal best of 57.38 to reach the mark.

In Paris 2024, the Netherlands will also send a women's archery team for the first time in 32 years. The team features Mexico's Gabriela Schloesser, who won silver in the mixed team event at Tokyo 2020 with Steve Wijler. 

On the track, Femke Bol and Sifan Hassan are expected to be among the medallists. The cycling team will be led by reigning world champion Mathieu van der Poel, who has already won the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

Eurostars and TeamNL

Eurostar is TeamNL's travel partner. The rail company will also transport the British, Belgians and Germans, with a total of 2,000 athletes travelling to Paris with Eurostar, spread across 160 trains. Eurostar expects to carry 2 million passengers to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Capacity on the Amsterdam-Paris route has been increased by 27 percent compared to 2023.

The company also announces that this way of travelling is more environmentally friendly for both athletes and visitors to the Olympic Games. "We are the greenest way to get to the Olympic Games. Taking the train from London to Paris emits on average 96% less CO2 emissions than travelling by plane," the company says on its website, which is in line with the Olympic Committee's sustainability target for this year. 

Just to remember, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will take place on Friday. By then, several Olympic Games will have already taken place.