The Netherlands competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. Dutch athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games since their official debut in 1908, with the exception of the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, which the Netherlands boycotted because of the Soviet invasion of Hungary. The Netherlands National Olympic Committee (Dutch: Nederlands Olympisch Comité * Nederlandse Sport Federatie, NOC*NSF) sent the nation's smallest delegation to the Games since 1988.