The small sporting giant.

The Netherlands although densely populated it is one of the smallest countries on earth. Currently the population is close to 17 Millions. Although it is a small nation when it comes to sports it has punched way above its weight for decades.

Leaving aside the recent disappointing performances by the national football team, tean Netherlands managed to have finalists in most of the major sporting events. Below are just some examples.

Fifa world cup finals 1974 against Germany;1978 against Argentina and 2010 against Spain.. Although the Dutch never won the world cup, 3 times they got to the finals. Several other times they ended in the semi finals in in 2014 they came 3rd.

UEFA European cup 1988. In 1988 they beat the Soviet Union in the European Cup finals.

Wimbledon, the most prestigious Tennis tournament and most coveted tournament to for players, had a Dutch winner in 1996. Richard Krajicek beat Malivai Washington. Even a female streaker did not deter him from winning the price.

Tour de France, although with all the scandals the shine has gone of it a bit, it is still considered THE cycling event. In 1968 Jan Janssen won the tour,This was repeated in 1980 by Joop Zoetemelk.

In  May 2017 a cyclist from Maastricht won the Giro D’Italia another great cycling event.On the 27th of May 2017, Tom DuMoulin managed to keep on to the pink jersey, making him the winners of Giro 2017.

During the 26 summer Olympic games the Dutch have anticipated in they have won 285 medals. 85 Gold, 92 Silver and 108 Bronze.However it is during the Winter games where the Dutch show what they are made of, In the 46 games they partook in they managed to accumulate 395 medals 122 Gold, 130 Silver and 143 Bronze.

Not bad for a small nation, not bad at all.