The Netherlands finished in 16th position in the final medal rankings, with three gold medals and five medals overall.

Gold edit

• Hennie Kuiper — Cycling Road, Men's Individual Road Race
• Wim Ruska — Judo, Men's Heavyweight
• Wim Ruska — Judo, Men's Open Category

Silver edit

• Mieke Jaapies — Canoe, Women's Flatwater K-1 500m

Bronze edit

• Roel Luynenburg and Ruud Stokvis — Rowing, Men's Coxless Pairs

Men's 800 metres

• Sjef Hensgens

• Heat — 1:51.2 (→ did not advance)

Men's 1500 metres

• Haico Scharn

• Heat — 3:41.4
• Semifinals — 3:44.4 (→ did not advance)

Men's 5000 metres

• Jos Hermens

• Heat — DNS (→ did not advance) (left Munich after the murder of the Israeli athletes)

Men's Welterweight (– 67 kg)

• James Vrij

• First Round — Bye
• Second Round — Lost to János Kajdi (HUN), 1:4

Men's Light Middleweight (– 71 kg)

• Anthony Richardson

• First Round — Bye
• Second Round — Defeated Svetomir Belić (YUG), 3:2
• Third Round — Lost to Loucif Hamani (ALG), TKO-2

Eleven cyclists represented the Netherlands in 1972.

Individual road race

• Hennie Kuiper — 04:14:37 (→   Gold Medal)
• Piet van Katwijk — 04:15:13 (→ 11th place)
• Cees Priem — 04:15:13 (→ 12th place)
• Fedor den Hertog — 04:15:13 (→ 25th place)

Team time trial

• Fedor den Hertog
• Hennie Kuiper
• Cees Priem
• Aad van den Hoek

Sprint

• Klaas Balk
• Peter van Doorn

1000m time trial

• Peter van Doorn

• Final — 1:08.09 (→ 11th place)

Tandem

• Klaas Balk and Peter van Doorn → 7th place

Individual pursuit

• Roy Schuiten

Team pursuit

• Ad Dekkers
• Gerard Kamper
• Herman Ponsteen
• Roy Schuiten

Women's 3m Springboard

• Mariette Dommers — 239.40 points (→ 23rd place)

Women's 10m Platform

• Annita Smith — 156.99 points (→ 27th place)

One fencer represented the Netherlands in 1972.

Men's sabre

• Eduard Ham

Men's Team Competition

• Preliminary Round (Group B)

• Drew with India (1-1)
• Defeated Poland (4-2)
• Defeated Kenya (5-1)
• Defeated New Zealand (2-0)
• Defeated Mexico (4-0)
• Lost to Great Britain (1-3)
• Defeated Australia (3-2)

• Semi Final Round

• Lost to West Germany (0-3)

• Bronze Medal Match

• Lost to India (1-2) → 4th place

• Team Roster

• André Bolhuis
• Marinus Dijkerman
• Thijs Kaanders
• Coen Kranenberg
• Ties Kruize
• Wouter Leefers
• Flip Lidth de Jeude
• Paul Litjens
• Irving van Nes
• Maarten Sikking (gk)
• Frans Spits
• Nico Spits
• Bert Taminiau
• Kick Thole
• Pieter Weemers
• Jeroen Zweerts

Three male pentathletes represented the Netherlands in 1972.

Men's Individual Competition:

• Jan Bekkenk — 4391 points (→ 46th place)
• Rob Vonk — 4153 points (→ 53rd place)
• Henk Krediet — 3786 points (→ 58th place)

Men's Team Competition:

• Bekkenk, Vonk, and Krediet — 12340 points (→ 18th place)

Men's Coxless Pairs

• Roel Luynenburg and Ruud Stokvis

• Heat — 7:26.80
• Repechage — 7:38.51
• Semi Finals — 7:41.86
• Final — 6:58.70 (→   Bronze Medal)

Men's Coxed Pairs

• Bernard Luttikhuizen, René Kieft and Herman Zaanen

• Heat — 8:00.15
• Repechage — 8:17.37 (→ did not advance)

Men's Coxed Fours

• Wim Grothuis, Evert Kroes, Jan Willem van Woudenberg, Johan ter Haar, and Kees de Korver

• Heat — 6:53.30
• Semi Finals — 7:23.66
• B-Final — 7:05.83 (→ 7th place)

Men's Eights

• Henk Rouwé, Jannes Munneke, Frank Mulder, Hans Huisinga, Jan van der Vliet, Herman Eggink, Bram Tuinzing, Pieter Offens, and Rutger Stuffken

• Heat — 6:13.03
• Semi Finals — 6:31.70
• B-Final — 6:23.55 (→ 9th place)

Three male shooters represented Netherlands in 1972.

50 m rifle, prone

• Willy Hillen

Skeet

• Ben Pon
• Eric Swinkels

Men's 200m Freestyle

• Peter Prijdekker

1. Heat – 1:58.78 (→ did not advance, 18th place)

Men's 400m Freestyle

• Ton van Klooster

1. Heat – 4:11.72 (→ did not advance, 17th place)

Men's 1500m Freestyle

• Ton van Klooster

1. Heat – 16:34.77 (→ did not advance, 12th place)

Men's 100m Backstroke

• Bob Schoutsen

1. Heat – 1:00.76
2. Semi Final – 1:00.48 (→ did not advance, 9th place)

Men's 200m Backstroke

• Bob Schoutsen

1. Heat – 2:10.56 (→ did not advance, 9th place)

Men's 200m Individual Medley

• François van Kruijsdijk

1. Heat – 2:17.14 (→ did not advance, 24th place)

Men's 400m Individual Medley

• Roger van Hamburg

1. Heat – 4:50.70 (→ did not advance, 19th place)

Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay

• Peter Prijdekker, Bert Bergsma, Roger van Hamburg, and Hans Elzerman

1. Heat – 3:41.36 (→ did not advance, 11th place)

Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay

• Peter Prijdekker, Bert Bergsma, Roger van Hamburg, and Hans Elzerman

1. Heat – 8:00.87 (→ did not advance, 10th place)

Women's 100m Freestyle

• Enith Brigitha

1. Heat – 1:00.02
2. Semi Final – 59.75
3. Final – 1:00.09 (→ 8th place)

• Hansje Bunschoten

1. Heat – 1:00.82
2. Semi Final – 1:00.79 (→ did not advance, 12th place)

• Anke Rijnders

1. Heat – 1:00.76
2. Semi Final – 1:00.84 (→ did not advance, 13th place)

Women's 200m Freestyle

• Hansje Bunschoten

1. Heat – 2:08.58
2. Final – 2:08.40 (→ 6th place)

• Anke Rijnders

1. Heat – 2:09.09
2. Final – 2:09.41 (→ 7th place)

Women's 400m Freestyle

• Hansje Bunschoten

1. Heat – 4:31.76
2. Final – 4:29.70 (→ 7th place)

• Anke Rijnders

1. Heat – 4:29.94
2. Final – 4:31.51 (→ 8th place)

Women's 800m Freestyle

• Hansje Bunschoten

1. Heat – 9:21.13
2. Final – 9:16.69 (→ 7th place)

Women's 100m Backstroke

• Enith Brigitha

1. Heat – 1:06.71
2. Semi Final – 1:06.49
3. Final – 1:06.82 (→ 6th place)

• Annemarie Groen

1. Heat – 1:09.55 (→ did not advance, 21st place)

• Marianne Vermaat

1. Heat – 1:09.14
2. Semi Final – 1:09.11 (→ did not advance, 16th place)

Women's 200m Backstroke

• Enith Brigitha

1. Heat – 2:23.70
2. Final – 2:23.70 (→ 6th place)

• Annemarie Groen

1. Heat – 2:29.17 (→ did not advance, 23rd place)

Women's 100m Breaststroke

• Alie te Riet

1. Heat – 1:18.79 (→ did not advance, 20th place)

• Tineke Hofland

1. Heat – 1:19.38 (→ did not advance, 28th place)

Women's 200m Breaststroke

• Alie te Riet

1. Heat – 2:28.49 (→ did not advance, 17th place)

• Josien Elzerman

1. Heat – 2:28.18 (→ did not advance, 19th place)

Women's 100m Butterfly

• Frieke Buys

1. Heat – 1:06.89
2. Semi Final – 1:06.78 (→ did not advance, 12th place)

Women's 200m Butterfly

• Frieke Buys

1. Heat – 2:24.20 (→ did not advance, 9th place)

Women's 200m Individual Medley

• Hennie Penterman

1. Heat – 2:28.99 (→ did not advance, 12th place)

• Wijda Mazereeuw

1. Heat – 2:32.59 (→ did not advance, 26th place)

• Gerda Lassooy

1. Heat – 2:32.92 (→ did not advance, 30th place)

Women's 400m Individual Medley

• Hennie Penterman

1. Heat – 5:41.99 (→ did not advance, 11th place)

• Gerda Lassooy

1. Heat – 5:22.09 (→ did not advance, 21st place)

• Wijda Mazereeuw

1. Heat – 5:24.00 (→ did not advance, 23rd place)

Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay

• Enith Brigitha, Anke Rijnders, Hansje Bunschoten, and Josien Elzerman

1. Heat – 4:02.70
2. Final – 4:01.49 (→ 5th place)

Women's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay

• Enith Brigitha, Alie te Riet, Frieke Buys, and Anke Rijnders

1. Heat – 4:32.20

• Enith Brigitha, Alie te Riet, Anke Rijnders, and Hansje Bunschoten

1. Final – 4:29.99 (→ 5th place)

Men's Team Competition

• Preliminary Round (Group B)

• Lost to Hungary (0-3)
• Defeated Australia (4-2)
• Drew with West Germany (4-4)
• Defeated Greece (6-2)

• Final Round (Group II)

• Defeated Bulgaria (5-2)
• Defeated Cuba (8-6)
• Drew with Romania (5-5)
• Defeated Spain (7-5) → 7th place

• Team Roster

• Mart Bras
• Ton Buunk
• Wim Hermsen
• Hans Hoogveld
• Evert Kroon
• Hans Parrel
• Ton Schmidt
• Wim van de Schilde
• Gijze Stroboer
• Jan Evert Veer
• Hans Wouda