Zoetermeer () is a city in the Western

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. A small village until the late 1960s, it had 6,392 inhabitants in 1950. By 2013 this had grown to 123,328, making it the third largest population centre in the province of South Holland, after

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

and

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. While now a city in its own right, Zoetermeer started out as a suburb of The Hague and is still a part of the Greater The Hague urban area; it is about 12 km east of The Hague, 15 km north of Rotterdam and 12 km south of

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

. The name Zoetermeer (Dutch for "freshwater lake") refers to the former lake north of the town (reclaimed in 1614). Because the name literally translates as "sweet lake" local residents have dubbed Zoetermeer "Sweet Lake City".

History

ErfgoedLeiden LEI001016946 Interieur van de Nicolaaskerk in Zoetermeer

In the tenth century Zoetermeer was a small village primarily home to farmers and fishermen. In the 13th century a village center was formed, which still exists as the historic Dorpsstraat. Until the 17th century there was a lake called the Zoetermeer. A reminder of this is the "Zoetermeerse Plas" in the Noord Aa recreation area at the northern edge of town; this artificial lake was created when tons of sand were needed to lay the foundation for new housing development, and the area north of Zoetermeer was a good source of this resource. Until 1935 the village centre was split into two villages, Zoetermeer and Zegwaard. The standard of living at the time was said to be higher in Zoetermeer than in Zegwaard. Seghwaert, an older way of spelling of Zegwaard, is now the name of a neighbourhood outside the old village centre. Zoetermeer began to grow slightly when the first train service came around 1868. A few decades later the

Numico Nutricia is a Danone brand that specialises in therapeutic food and infant formula, including medical nutrition for babies with specific needs. The former company, N.V. Nutricia., was established in The Netherlands by brothers Jan and Martinus ...

factory started near the station. The real growth started in 1966, when there was an urgent need of houses from people around The Hague. From then they started to build new quarters around the old village centre, so Zoetermeer began to grow and became a city in the meantime. Although contemporary Zoetermeer has the image of a modern city, there are still remains of the past. Like the old village centre with its small houses and the church with late medieval 15th-century clock tower (on picture, wooden top from 1642), and the old farms, surrounded by modern houses nowadays. Lake Dobbe divides the old town from the new city centre, with the medieval village centre on one side of the lake and the modern high-rise and skyscrapers on the other side.

Neighbourhoods

Zoetermeer is divided into 10 neighbourhoods, which cover most of the municipality's territory, with the remainder being the commercial area in the east and the mostly green and undeveloped ''Buitengebied'' in the west. Every neighbourhood has at least one (smaller) shopping mall and (except for Noordhove) a tram stop. Each neighbourhood consists of one or more ''wijken'', each of which has a separate postcode with differing last two digits following "27", from within Zoetermeer's 2710-2729 assigned postcodes (2700, 2701 and 2702 are used for

post-office box A post office box (commonly abbreviated as P.O. box, or also known as a postal box) is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office. In some regions, particularly in Africa, there is no door to door delivery ...

es and the rest are not used ) These neighbourhoods have the following names (in brackets the year the neighbourhood was designated, although some of the neighbourhood already existed before designation): Zoetermeer 20050928 40361

Dorp (1962)

Literally meaning "village", this ''wijk'' covers mostly the territory of the pre-existing village of Zoetermeer, with the central ''Dorpstraat'' (village street) with historic buildings serving as a shopping and recreation area. The area also features the historic ''De Hoop''

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...

, which unlike many other windmills in the area used for drainage, has always been used as a flourmill. The postcode for Zoetermeer-Dorp is 2712.

Driemanspolder (1965)

Driemanspolder (postcode 2713) was the first area to be developed as part of modern Zoetermeer, and contains mostly large multi-apartment buildings characteristic of the era. It is next to the A12 motorway, which forms the southern border of the ''wijk'', and directly north of the

Zoetermeer railway station Zoetermeer is a railway station located in Zoetermeer, Netherlands. The station was opened in 1973, and is located on the Gouda–Den Haag railway. The train services are operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, ...

(which is on the other side of A12).

Palenstein (1966)

Palenstein (postcode 2722) is north of the Dorp, deriving its name from the former Castle of Palenstein, which used to be there. It mainly consists of highrise residential development. A rejuvenation project was started in Palenstein in 2006, providing for the renovation of some and demolition of other older buildings.

Meerzicht (1969)

Literally meaning "lake view", Meerzicht is divided by the RandstadRail light rail tracks into Meerzicht-Oost (postcode 2715), with taller block of flats, and Meerzicht-West (postcode 2716) with low-rise residential development. Further to the west is the water-rich, 280-hectare urban park and recreation area Westerpark.

Buytenwegh de Leyens (1974)

The development of this area marked the shift to the development of single-family homes with private gardens more popular with Dutch families of that and coming decades, and encompasses the much older settlements of Buytenwegh (postcode 2717) and De Leyens (postcode 2725), and an area called "Buytenwegh de Leyens" per se (postcode 2726).

Seghwaert (1975)

Seghwaert Seghwaert is a district in Zoetermeer that was formed around the old village of Zegwaart (or Zegwaard), which fused with the municipality of Zoetermeer in 1935, using the archaic spelling of the locale's name. The old Zegwaart was a ribbon devel ...

was formed around what was the former village of

Zegwaart Zegwaart (or Zegwaard) was a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It was located directly to the east of Zoetermeer. Around 1978 a division of Zoetermeer was named after the old village and got the name Seghwaert. Zegwaart was a separ ...

(or Zegwaard), which fused with Zoetermeer in 1935, using the archaic spelling of the locale's name. The old Zegwaart was a

ribbon development Ribbon development refers to the building of houses along the routes of communications radiating from a human settlement. The resulting linear settlements are clearly visible on land use maps and aerial photographs, giving cities and the countrys ...

along what remains until today as ''Zegwaartseweg'', which is perpendicular to ''Dorpstraat''. It is further divided into Seghwaert-Oost (postcode 2723), -Midden (postcode 2724) and -Noord (postcode 2727).

Stadscentrum (1978)

The construction of a new centre of Zoetermeer actually started only in 1981, to serve as a shopping and administrative heart of the city. It followed modern

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

principles, placing parking garages, some storage facilities and a RandstadRail station on the ground level, which is covered by pedestrian- and bicycle-only area with shops on the lower floors and apartments above them, to ensure the centre does not die out outside of the business hours. The centre was completed in phases, the last one being the Cadenza residential development in 2017. The Stadscentrum has two RandstadRail stations. The Centrum-West station is the terminus of RandstadRail line 3 and is the locations of Zoetermeer's busiest

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is ...

. The Stadscentrum includes the modern town hall of Zoetermeer and the local police station. A small lake called ''Grote Dobbe'' is placed directly in between Stadscentrum and Dorp, with the promenades and bicycle paths along the lake connecting the old and the new centres of Zoetermeer. The postcode for Stadscentrum is 2711.

Noordhove (1986)

Noordhove (postcode 2728) is located between Seghwaert to the south and the artificial lake known as 'Zoetermeerse Plas' to the north. Unlike the other ''wijken'', it has no dedicated RandstadRail station, as both RandstadRail track branches run to the south of it.

Rokkeveen (1987)

Rokkeveen is separated from the other ''wijken'' by the A12 motorway and the Den Haag-Gouda railway line. As such, it enjoys direct access to Zoetermeer's railway stations and features numerous crossings under or over both transport corridors to allow access to the rest of Zoetermeer. Rokkeveen is further divided into Rokkeveen-Oost and Rokkeveen-West. A significant turning point in the development of this part of town was the

Floriade 1992 Floriade 1992 was an international garden exhibition held in Zoetermeer, Netherlands, recognized by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and organized under the authority of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The Floriade ra ...

, which took place there. Rokkeveen-Oost (postcode 2718) extends between the railway stations Zoetermeer-Oost and Zoetermeer. The ''Mandelabrug'' ( Nelson Mandela bridge) was built over the latter for the Floriade (replacing an earlier smaller bridge, deemed insufficient for the increased traffic) as a covered bicycle and pedestrian passage over the railway, motorway and the RandstadRail, which adjoins it at this point from the North. The ''Mandelabrug'' connects the train station, the Randstadrail station Driemanspolder and the ''wijken'' of Rokkeveen-Oost and Driemanspolder. Next to the Mandelabrug runs a road crossing - a bridge between Afrikaweg on the northern side and Zuidweg in Rokkeveen. The other crossing are the road, pedestrian and bicycle tunnels between Tweede and Eerste Stationsstraat next to Zoetermeer-Oost train station, connecting Rokkeveen-Oost with Dorp. The historic

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conju ...

''De Tien Gemeenten'' is also now located in Rokkeveen-Oost. Rokkeveen-West (postcode 2719) mainly encompasses newer development on the grounds of the former Floriade-park, which includes both residential and office buildings.

Oosterheem (1999)

Oosterheem is the newest district of Zoetermeer, a Vinex-location and the source of Zoetermeer's most recent and continuing growth, which allowed it to become the third most populous municipality in South Holland. The districts development was not without problematic issues and delays, stemming first from the concerns over the environmental impacts of such development, and later from the planning and construction of

HSL-Zuid The HSL-Zuid ( nl, Hogesnelheidslijn Zuid, en, High-speed Line South), is a 125 kilometre-long (78 miles) Dutch high-speed railway line running between the Amsterdam metropolitan area and the Belgian border, with a branch to Breda, North ...

, which now forms the district's and municipality's eastern border. An enduring concern is an old pipeline, now used for the transportation of pressurized CO₂, which runs through Oosterheem. Oosterheem is served by three stations on RandstadRail line 4, whose tracks branch out from the original RandstadRail loop in Seghwaert. It is further divided into Oosterheem-Oost (postcode 2721) and Oosterheem-West (postcode 2729).

Wijkposten

Zoetermeer has a network of "''wijkposten''" ("neighbourhood stations"), which provide more direct contacts between the municipality and the inhabitants of the neighbourhoods. The ''wijkposten'' employ personnel to deal with housing issues and provide space for local police officers. There are six ''wijkposten'' throughout Zoetermeer. Buytenwegh de Leyens, Meerzicht, Oosterheem and Rokkeveen have a ''wijkpost'' each, while Noordhove and Seghwaert share a common station and ''Wijkpost Center'' serves Dorp, Driemanspolder, Palenstein and Stadscentrum, which are for some purposes also lumped together as "Zoetermeer Centrum".

Economy

Zoetermeer's economy is primarily dependent and revolving around

Information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...

. With modern infrastructure, a highly digitised centre called 'het Forum' that houses city hall, the central library and numerous other organisations, and many schools that offer IT-related education, it also is a major software development centre, with many software developers based here. Given the large number of IT companies with branches in Zoetermeer, like Siemens, which has its Dutch Tech Campus in Zoetermeer, and

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...

Medical Systems Europe BV, it's not surprising that 20% of the population of Zoetermeer has an IT-related job. The local government designates a comparatively large part of the budget to computers for schools. To stress the IT tradition of Zoetermeer, the city is the first in the world to have a city hall in

Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...

Transport

Light rail

The former

Zoetermeer Stadslijn Zoetermeer Stadslijn is a light-rail line converted from a former commuter rail line in the Netherlands, between The Hague and Zoetermeer. History Originally, the line was managed by the Dutch Railways (NS). Since June 2006, it has served as a l ...

urban railway was rebuilt as light rail in 2006/2007. The stadslijn was the only urban railway in The Netherlands. It had 12 stations in Zoetermeer and ran to and from

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

. The new light rail system is part of the

RandstadRail RandstadRail () is a light rail network in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area in the west of the Netherlands that is jointly operated by HTM Personenvervoer (HTM) and Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram (RET). It connects the cities of Rotte ...

network between

and Zoetermeer. Besides the rebuilt original Stadslijn, which now has 13 stations, the added Oosterheemlijn leads to the new suburb Oosterheem. The Oosterheemlijn has five stations and ends at the heavy rail Station Lansingerland-Zoetermeer.

Heavy rail

Zoetermeer has three stations on the main railway between The Hague and Utrecht. Zoetermeer-Zegwaard, built when the city was connected by railway in 1868, burnt down in 1906. Later the station reopened 1965 on the same location as Zoetermeer-Oost. The main station, Zoetermeer station, was opened in 1973. Lastly, the newest station, Station Lansingerland-Zoetermeer, was completed in May 2019. The

high speed line from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

passes Zoetermeer on its eastern side. Although there have been proposals to open a station on the line, this seems highly unlikely this will be realized.

Motorway

Zoetermeer is next to the A12 motorway, connecting The Hague with

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Religion

Zoetermeer is the only place in the Netherlands with a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

. It is situated near the old village centre.

Entertainment and recreation

This former new town used to be a satellite city of

, as many residents worked, shopped and were entertained in The Hague. With the growth of Zoetermeer came a large theatre, mega cinema, and other entertainment such as go-karts, laser gaming, survival centre, and a golf centre. The "Locomotion" discothèque, the first mega disco of The Netherlands, was the oldest of them. Locomotion closed its doors in 2011 and has since become a restaurant called Eten Enzo.

Museums

The city has two museums, Museum deVoorde and the National Videogame Museum. In 2022, subsidy for Museum deVoorde was stopped by the local government because of low visitor numbers after the COVID19-pandemic.

SnowWorld

SnowWorld was the first

indoor ski slope Indoor skiing is done in a climate-controlled environment with artificially produced snow. This enables skiing and snowboarding to take place regardless of outdoor temperatures. Facilities for both alpine skiing and nordic skiing are availabl ...

made of real snow in Europe, opened in 1996. It now has three slopes, of which the slope is the longest. Plans are being made to extend this to . Already open since December 2016. SnowWorld attracts over a million visitors each year, making it the most important tourist attraction in Zoetermeer.

Dutch Water Dreams

Dutch Water Dreams (DWD) was an artificial Olympic wild water

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

circuit. It was a copy of the one built in China for the 2008

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

and was mainly used for training by

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

teams, and also for

team building Team building is a collective term for various types of activities used to enhance social relations and define roles within teams, often involving collaborative tasks. It is distinct from team training, which is designed by a combine of business ...

and recreation. DWD also had an indoor Flowrider centre. Dutch Water Dreams closed in 2015.

Silverdome

Silverdome The Pontiac Silverdome (also known simply as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, ...

is an indoor Olympic ice skating track and convention centre. It is used as a training centre for the KNSB, the Dutch Olympic and world championship ice skaters. It is also home to the only curling rink in the Netherlands. Outside the skating season it is used as a convention centre and concert hall and for large raves.

Indoor Dive

There are plans to build an indoor diving centre in Zoetermeer. in diameter and deep, it will be the largest indoor diving centre in the world. There will be a coral reef and underwater caves and a large beach around the edge. Ten thousand live, tropical fish should make it as realistic as possible.

Parks

Zoetermeer has many parks, the biggest being the "Westerpark" on the west side of town. It is almost as large as Central Park in New York. Other notable parks are the "Buytenpark", the "Aldo van Eyckpark", the "Binnenpark", the "Van Tuyllpark (with Dutch Water Dreams and Aquapark Keerpunt), the "Hoekstrapark", the "Wilhelminapark", the " floriade park", the "Seghwaertse Hout" and the "Seghwaertpark". At the north side there is a lake, the "Zoetermeerse Plas", often called "Noord Aa" because it is in the Noord Aa Recreational Area. There is a beach along one side of the lake and a marina on the other. Wind- and

kite surfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

, sailing and fishing are the most popular activities on the lake. On both the west and east side of the city forests are being planted, called " Balijbos" (west side) and Bentwoud (east side). These forests are intended to form a "natural" barrier between The Hague and Zoetermeer.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Zoetermeer is twinned with:

Notable people from Zoetermeer

Public Thinking & Public Service

* Antonius van den Broek (1870 in Zoetermeer - 1926) a Dutch amateur physicist and lawyer *

Hilbrand Nawijn Hilbrand Pier Anne Nawijn (born 8 August 1948) is a Dutch lawyer and politician of the local political party Lijst Hilbrand Nawijn (LHN) in Zoetermeer. From 2002 to 2004, he served as a Member of the House of Representatives for the Pim Fortuyn ...

(born 1948) Dutch politician, lives in Zoetermeer * Bert van der Spek (born 1949 in Zoetermeer) a Dutch ancient historian, specializing in the Seleucid Empire * Charlie Aptroot (born 1950) a Dutch politician, Mayor of Zoetermeer since 2012 *

Martijn van Dam Martinus Hendricus Petrus "Martijn" van Dam (born 1 February 1978) is a Dutch engineer and politician. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), he served as State Secretary for Economic Affairs from 3 November 2015 until 1 September 2017 in the Sec ...

(born 1978 in Zoetermeer) a Dutch engineer and politician, member of the

Second Rutte cabinet The second Rutte cabinet, also called the Rutte–Asscher cabinet, was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 5 November 2012 until 26 October 2017. The cabinet was formed by the conservative-liberal People's Party for ...

Rutger de Regt Rutger de Regt (28 November 1979) born in Zoetermeer is a Dutch designer. Biography Rutger de Regt is a furniture design graduate since 2011 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague. This is where he lives and started his design studio. I ...

(born 1979 in Zoetermeer) Dutch furniture designer

The Arts

* Dennis Princewell Stehr (born 1984 in Zoetermeer) stage name ''

Mr Probz Dennis Princewell Stehr (born May 15, 1984), better known by his stage name Mr. Probz, is a Dutch music producer, singer and singer-songwriter. He became known for the songs ''Drivin, ''Sukkel voor de liefde'', ''Nothing Really Matters'' and hi ...

'', Dutch singer-songwriter, rapper, producer and actor *

San Holo Sander van Dijck (born 26 November 1990), better known by his stage name San Holo, is a Dutch DJ, musician, and record producer from Zoetermeer. He gained international recognition for his remix of Dr. Dre's "The Next Episode", which current ...

(born 1990 in Zoetermeer) a Dutch DJ, musician, record producer and composer * Shandro Jahangier (born 1992 in Zoetermeer) stage name '' Sandro Silva'', a Dutch DJ and record producer * Romee Strijd (born 1995 in Zoetermeer) a Dutch model IMDb Database
retrieved 22 December 2019

Sport

Jopie Selbach Johanna "Jopie" Katarina Selbach (27 July 1918 – 30 April 1998) was a freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands. She won gold medals at the 1934 European Aquatics Championships (with Willy den Ouden, Rie Mastenbroek and Ans Timmermans) and 193 ...

(1918–1998 in Zoetermeer) Dutch freestyle swimmer, gold medallist at the 1936 Summer Olympics *

Xenia Stad-de Jong Xenia Stad-de Jong (4 March 1922 – 3 April 2012) was a Dutch track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events. Born in Semarang in the former Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), her greatest success was winning the gold medal as the fir ...

(1922–2012 in Zoetermeer), Dutch track and field athlete, gold medallist at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

* Monique Bolleboom (born 1962 in Zoetermeer) a former artistic gymnast, competed at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

Karen Venhuizen Karen Venhuizen (born 4 April 1984) is a Dutch former competitive figure skater. She is the 2003 Triglav Trophy champion, the 2007 International Challenge Cup champion, and a nine-time (2000–08) Dutch national champion. She qualified for the ...

(born 1984 in Zoetermeer) a Dutch former competitive figure skater * Suzanne Harmes (born 1986 in Zoetermeer) a Dutch gymnast, competed at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics *

Leroy Fer Leroy Johan Fer (born 5 January 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Turkish Süper Lig club Alanyaspor. He also represented the Netherlands, making 11 appearances between 2010 and 2014. Fer has various ...

(born 1990 in Zoetermeer) a Dutch footballer, over 300 club caps *

Yara van Kerkhof Yara van Kerkhof (; born 31 May 1990) is a Dutch short track speed skater. She won the silver medal in the 500 m event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Career Van Kerkhof competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics for the Ne ...

(born 1990 in Zoetermeer) a Dutch short track speed skater, silver medallist at the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

* Charlton Vicento (born 1991 in Zoetermeer) is a Curaçaoan footballer with over 150 club caps * Remon van Bochoven (born 1989 in Zoetermeer) a Dutch footballer, over 185 club caps

Panorama

References

External links

Official website (Dutch)

Zoetermeer in Beeld (Dutch)
{{Authority control Municipalities of South Holland Populated places in South Holland Articles containing video clips