Sharon van Rouwendaal heads for gold

FOREWORD

Dear Sports Friends,

We are proud to present the yearbook Holland Sports & Industry 2022/2023.

The yearbook has been serving as an important reference work for the Dutch sports industry for years and it gives an overview of the enormous diversity of Dutch companies, organizations and institutions affiliated with sports. The yearbook is therefore widely used by embassies, consulates, companies, sports associations and other relevant sports organizations and institutions.

2022 was dominated by many beautiful sporting events, culminating in the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing. The Netherlands achieved a nice 6th place on the global medal ranking, with a total of 17 medals (8x gold, 5x silver & 4x bronze). At the Paralympic Games, the Netherlands finished 16th on the global ranking, with 3x silver & 1x bronze. In the Tour de France, great results were achieved, especially by the Dutch Team Jumbo-Visma, by bringing both the green and the yellow jersey across the finish line in Paris. The Dutch ladies also performed excellently in the Tour de France Femmes, as well as at the 2022 UCI Road World Championships Wollongong.

These achievements prove the strength of the Dutch sports ecosystem and are the result of years of investments by athletes, sports associations, companies and (government)institutions. For example, it is nice to see that various innovations have contributed to the performance of Dutch athletes. In addition, many companies and organizations put the Netherlands on the map with sustainable, inclusive and circular solutions for sport.

Orange Sports Forum has also been able to make great progress and realized several projects in 2022. Abroad, the "public-private partnership" in the United States with the involvement of 20 committed companies is particularly successful. In addition, several successful trade missions took place to sports events and fairs in Miami, Lausanne, Monaco, Curaçao and Glasgow. Such missions are always actively supported by the Dutch embassies or consulates in the countries concerned.

In the Netherlands itself, Orange Sports Forum has also further expanded its activities and impact in 2022 by starting the OSF Academy together with 10 of its participants. The knowledge, skills and best practices from the OSF network will be collected and available to all OSF participants from mid-2023. The OSF Facilitator now houses 5 promising innovative start-ups from the world of sports & tech and they are guided by the OSF board in a well-defined program. Also, the "OSF Community App" has been introduced as a tool to optimize communication within the OSF participants. Finally, as an advisory body of the Netherlands Sports Council, OSF tries to represent the interests of its members as well as possible and safeguard them in future political policy.

2023 will again offer plenty of opportunities for the participants of OSF and through various meetings offer a glimpse into 2024, the year of the Olympic Games in Paris and the Winter Olympics in Milan in 2026. It goes without saying that we will continue to support Dutch sports-related organisations on their way abroad. In this way, we will continue to facilitate and represent our participants in a good and efficient way in 2023 in order to achieve successes and progress.

We wish you a lot of reading pleasure and a healthy 2023!

With sporting greetings,

Orange Sports Forum Foundation

Arun SwamiPersaud Camil Smeulders John van de Laar Rick Sleegers Marielle Wiegmans Nico Delleman