Beatrix honors Olympic heroes

[Iris]

I was there!! I now live in that city! I've seen them (also the queen) and waved at them!!! A part of the city was closed cuz of the tour they did. It was great. Beatrix was so spontaneous, she tapped Pieter van den Hoogenband generously on the shoulders as he passed by getting to his place for the picture and she hugged Inge de Bruijn standing next to her! ^_^

the queen IS on the picture, but she was modest enough to go stand in the back, she's smiling brightly! :)

An article with a picture: blond lady on the left: Anky van Grunsven (horserider, won gold), next blond lady: Inge de Bruijn (swimmer, won several medals, gold/silver/silver/bronze/bronze, but not sure), the dark haired lady one step higher is Leontien van Moorsel (cyclist, won gold (thought something more, but don't know), then there's the queen, next to her is Pieter van den Hoogenband (swimmer, won 4 medals, I thought gold/silver/bronze/bronze)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v350/iri...astica/trix.jpg

I'm too tired to translate the whole thing, or even read it right now, so if you'd like me to do so, just ask, I'll do it later. It probably tells about the usual ceremony. Cuz the queen and the entire parliament always honor the olympic medalwinners in the palace and there's a ceremony at the (what we call the Knighthall, dunno the word for it in english) and after that the sporters do a tour in carriages all through the city. It's brilliant! :royal: