Van der Ven competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in men's individual archery. He was coached by Wietse van Alten, winner of the bronze medal in Sydney 2000. In an upset victory, he convincingly beat top-seed and world-record holder Im Dong-hyun 7-1 in the round of 16. After beating Kuo Cheng-Wei 6-0 in the quarterfinals, he came to a 5-5 draw in the semi-finals against Takaharu Furukawa, shooting 141 versus Furukawa’s 140. In the following shoot-off he shot a 9 while Furukawa shot a 10, relegating him to a bronze medal match against Dai Xiaoxiang. Here Van der Ven again came to a 5-5 draw, scoring 2 points more than his opponent, but lost again in the first shoot-off, thereby finishing in 4th position.