Anne van Dam, first Dutch golfer at the Olympic Games | sport

Although Van Dam (25) simply does not qualify for qualification (position in the world top 100 on June 28), NOC * NSF has taken into account the fact that Arnhem’s wife has been seriously hampered on her qualification course this year. .due to the Covid 19 measures. As a result, it was not possible for Van Dam to play a number of tournaments on the Ladies European Tour in Europe and have the chance to improve his position in the world rankings . “If she could have walked this road undisturbed, the chance that she would have met the national performance requirement would have been real,” NOC * NSF explained. “That is why she is eligible for the exception rule.”

The Netherlands will not have a representative for men. Joost Luiten was still there in 2016 at the Rio Summer Games, but the best golfer in the Netherlands does not qualify to be there again in Tokyo.

Van Dam, currently number 123 in the world rankings, will play a limited number of tournaments in the United States on the LPGA Tour this season. In order to defend her position on this Tour, she also had to cancel at an early stage for the Dutch Open, which will be played at Rosendaelsche Golfclub from June 30 to July 3.

“If I had had a better start to the season in America, I would certainly have come to the Netherlands. But I had to focus on the LPGA to move up the rankings, it was now a priority. It’s a shame because of course I really like playing in the Netherlands and certainly on the Rosendaelsche, ”said Van Dam.