Dutch golfer Joost Luiten to fight officials in court after unfair denial into 2024 Olympics - "We will put our case in front of a judge"
Joost Luiten, Anne van Dam, Dewi Weber, and Darius van Driel qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics in golf but were denied a chance to compete for their home country, the Netherlands. Luiten is going to court to fight this and claimed that it is unfair that he and his compatriots cannot compete after qualifying for the quadrennial event.
He said in a social media post:
"I will be fighting the decision not to send me to the Olympics by the NOC NSF in court TODAY! We will put our case in front of a judge and get independent judgment! An independent look to my case that's something I have been looking for and I know I have not been getting from the NOC NSF!"
The reason Luiten, van Driel, and Weber were not allowed to go to the Olympics is because the NOC, the Netherlands Olympic Committee, decided that only one of the four qualified golfers actually had a chance to win a medal. They're allowing Anne van Dam to represent the country but have prohibited the other three from going to Paris.
Dutch pro golfers react to Olympics snub
When the original decision was made, Joost Luiten was "very sad" that he would not be able to play in the Olympics. He detailed in a social media post that he met all the criteria but was not allowed to compete since the NOC has its own criteria, which is what they determine to be a "good chance to finish top eight".
Luiten said (via Golf Monthly):
"Over my 18-year professional career, I have finished inside of the top 10 almost 20% of the time and those were 156-man fields. This was 25% in the 2023 season."
He was stunned that the NOC, who he said typically understands Dutch sports well, wouldn't let him even go and try to win despite the above metrics being very solid.
"It’s just mindblowing that they... have absolutely no clue about golf."
Luiten added that the Olympic Committee changed their criteria, otherwise he would have qualified in two different ways. Darius van Driel echoed the sentiment:
"The [Netherlands Olympic Committee] doesn't have a clue about golf and it's a shame we're suffering now. We're not going because of political reasons."
Luiten said that mistakes were made by the Netherlands Golf Federation for agreeing with "absurd demands". Van Driel called it a sad day for Dutch golf. Dewi Weber said that she interpreted it as their own country saying they aren't good enough to represent the Netherlands at the Olympics, adding that it "honestly hurts."
It is currently unclear what chance the case stands in court or how things will transpire, but the three golfers are upset with the inability to go play at the Olympics this year.