Dutch Golfer Joost Luiten has been denied a place at the Paris Olympics, despite winning a court case to overturn the Netherlands Olympic Committee’s decision to prevent him from competing.
Luiten was one of four golfers from the Netherlands – alongside Daruis van Driel, Anne van Dam and Dewi Weber – who qualified for the Paris Games after meeting International Olympic Committee (IOC) requirements.
However, the Netherlands Olympic Committee (NOC) decided to only send LET star van Dam to Paris, deeming the other three as having “no reasonable chance of a top-eight ranking during the Olympic Games”.
Luiten decided to take the NOC to court and won, with a Dutch judge ruling that he had to be entered into the 60-man field at Le Golf National.
But unfortunately for Luiten, his quest to compete for his country at the Olympics ran into another issue: his spot in the field had already been given away.
In a statement on Tuesday, the International Golf Federation said: “When the International Golf Federation (IGF) received notification of Joost Luiten’s court ruling in the Netherlands and his entry from the Netherlands’ National Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF), his unused quota spot had already been reallocated pursuant to the IGF’s published qualification procedures.”
The IGF said it attempted to seek an exemption with the IOC to allow Luiten to compete, but it was denied.
“The IGF was not a party to the legal action brought forth by Luiten in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, in an effort to support Luiten, the IGF sought an exception from the IOC to increase the field size of the men’s Olympic golf competition from 60 to 61 competitors to include Luiten, however the request was denied by the IOC today.
“The IGF has advised Luiten of the IOC’s decision, and he has not informed the IGF whether he intends to pursue this matter further.”
Following the statement, a furious Luiten spoke out against the IOC in a post on Instagram.
"If you say the fundamentals of the olympic games are about INTEGRITY, FAIRPLAY and RESPECT you are all lies!" he said.
"Even though I have been quailified [sic] by their own rules and entered before the entry deadline! They don’t let me play!"
Luiten, a six-time winner on the DP World Tour, was ranked 148th in the world at the time of the NOC’s decision. He had qualified for the Games after finishing in 40th in the IGF’s men’s Olympic rankings.
At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini, the world No.161 at the time, won the silver medal, while 181st-ranked CT Pan of Chinese Taipei claimed bronze.
The golf events at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games take place at Le Golf National between August 1-4 (men) and August 7-10 (women).
