Niels de Ruiter

Niels de Ruiter (born January 21, 1983 in Lelystad, Flevoland) is a former Dutch darts player and current director of the Dutch Darts Federation.

On the darts circuit his nickname is The Excellent Dude, which is a reference from the film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. He is also known for using Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' as his walk-on music, which he plays air guitar to as he enters the match.

He began playing darts in 1999 and made his World Championship debut in the 2006 Lakeside World Championship, but lost in the first round to Shaun Greatbatch.

He was a runner-up to Mark Webster in the 2006 WDF Europe Cup. He also reached the semi-finals of the 2005 Welsh Open and 2005 Welsh Classic, but burst onto the world scene in 2007 by reaching the semi-finals of the 2007 World Championships at the Lakeside, where he lost to Phill Nixon. In the 2008 World Championships, de Ruiter was eliminated in the first round after losing to Glenn Moody.

De Ruiter played very few tournaments in 2008 due to suffering from vertigo and quit darts for three months until he came back to the game. He participated in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts losing all three group games against James Wade, Adrian Lewis and Denis Ovens, winning just one legs and included two whitewash losses to Lewis and Ovens. He then failed to qualify for the 2009 BDO World Darts Championship and also for the last 16 stage of the World Masters. He has remained inactive since.

In 2012, De Ruiter returned to the Lakeside having failed to qualify, but having overseen a record eight Dutch players reaching the televised stages. He also acted as a translator for one of these players, Christian Kist, who went on to win the championship. Another Dutchman, Wesley Harms, also reached the semi-finals that year.