The Netherlands first sent athletes to the Olympic Games in 1900, and has participated in almost all Games since then with the exception of 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. The Netherlands boycotted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne as a protest against the Soviet invasion in Hungary just a few weeks before the beginning of the Games (One Dutch rider competed in the 1956 equestrian events, held in Stockholm a few months before the rest of the Games).

The first individual gold medal at the Summer Games was earned by Maurice Peeters in cycling at the 1920 Summer Olympics, in the men's 1000 metres sprint event. The first gold medal at the Winter Games was earned by Sjoukje Dijkstra in ladies' figure skating at the 1964 Winter Olympics.

The Netherlands hosted the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The Netherlands had expressed interest in hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics in either Amsterdam or Rotterdam, as a centennial celebration of the 1928 Games.^[1] Eventually, no bid came from either city and the Olympics were awarded to Los Angeles.

Prior to the 1992 Olympics, the country name was "Holland" with the country code of "HOL". From 1992 onward, they have utilized the "Netherlands" and "NED", as an abbreviation of the Dutch name Nederland.

Dutch athletes have won 322 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, with swimming and cycling as the top medal-producing sports. The nation has won another 130 medals at the Winter Olympic Games, of which 121 have come from speed skating.

Following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010 (which was a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee (NAOC) lost its Olympic license in July 2011. After the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, athletes from the Netherlands Antilles can choose to participate for the Netherlands or Aruba, which has a semi-independent status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. At the 2012 Games, athletes from the Netherlands Antilles participated in as Independent Olympic Athletes under the IOC flag. However, some athletes had already expressed their wish to represent either the Netherlands or Aruba in London.

The Netherlands has hosted the Games on one occasion.