The Netherlands competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. This was announced in an official statement on the NOC*NSF website. In the statement they named the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games as a highlight in sports to which a lot of sportspeople, coaches and the Dutch sports fans would look forward. The Netherlands aimed for a top 10 nations ranking in the Olympics as well as a top 25 ranking in the Paralympics; they ended up ranking 12th at the Games.

Further in the statement they announced that they were aware of the political discussions about human rights and other issues in the People's Republic of China and that they encouraged these discussions, but that they would only participate in sports related discussions. They say individual sportspeople, coaches and managers might have their own opinions about the issues but these would always be conveyed as personal opinions deriving from their own social views. They believe sports activities do have the opportunity to positively influence the situation in the People's Republic of China when it comes to implementing the sports rules correctly as well as in situations improving the levels of respect, solidarity and fair play in sports.

There were 243 athletes representing the Netherlands. 15 in athletics, 24 in baseball, 2 in canoeing, 27 in cycling, 8 in equestrian, 2 in fencing, 32 in field hockey, 18 in football, 2 in gymnastics, 10 in judo, 30 in rowing, 12 in sailing, 15 in softball, 21 in swimming, 3 in table tennis, 1 in taekwondo, 2 in triathlon, 6 in volleyball and 13 in water polo. 61 different athletes won a medal, which is 25.10% of all athletes. With a gold and a silver medal Anky van Grunsven was the only multiple medalist. The athletes that qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics are listed below.

The NOC*NSF announced a total of eleven athletes as their official ambassadors in the period before, during and after the Olympics in 2008 until the end of that year. The ambassadors that were chosen were all athletes who had a good chance of qualifying for the Olympics or who had already achieved qualification individually or with their team. They were a mixture of men, women, individual athletes, team athletes, Olympians and Paralympians. Chefs de Mission were Charles van Commenée (Olympics) and Thea Limbach (Paralympics).

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