King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has knighted the Dutch Olympic gold medalists during a celebration at Noordeinde Palace.
Jutta Leerdam, Femke Kok, Marijke Groenewoud, Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong, Teun Boer, Friso Emons, Jens van ‘t Wout, Melle van ‘t Wout and
Itzhak de Laat were all made a knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau. The order is for “everyone who has performed acts of special merit for society.” Unlike other countries, they do not receive any titles or prefixes.
Gold medalists Xandra Velzeboer and Jorrit Bergsma were knighted for their performances at earlier Olympic Games and received a commemorative statuette.
Newly-installed Prime Minister Jetten told them, “I’m already secretly looking forward to all the jealous looks from my European colleagues, because this wasn’t just good, this was simply unparalleled.”
The athletes also met with Queen Máxima and the Princess of Orange. King Willem-Alexander also managed to surprise Jorrit Bergsma with some French fries after he was overheard wanting some. The King said, “We had that sorted!”
Be the first to comment on "King Willem-Alexander knights Olympic gold medalists"