Hungaria Stamp Exchange invites you to join us in our philatelic celebration of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad. While each of us enjoyed many Olympic competitions with various sports ranging from gymnastics and swimming to track, fencing, soccer and more, contested by athletes representing the countries of the world, please take some time to enjoy our philatelic collection representing the current Games as well as those of previous Olympiads.
Ancient Olympics 776 BCE
Spectators gathered in Olympia, Greece in 776 BCE to watch a simple footrace which started the classical Olympics lasting more than a millennium, attracting athletes and spectators from around the Mediterranean. Competitions came to include wrestling, javelin throwing, boxing, long jumping and even races in chariots! While the focus of the Ancient Games was on athleticism, it also included the philosophies of fairness, peace, development and education, values which continue to permeate the Modern Era Olympics which started 1500 years after the end of the Ancient games in 393 CE.
Modern Era Olympics
Philately and the modern day Olympics have a symbiotic relationship starting with the first modern day Games held in Athens in 1896 when Greece issued a series of stamps to mark the occasion. These stamps actually contributed to the financial success of the event which had been impacted by the financial and political crisis of the times.
Demetrios Sakorafos, the founder of the Greek philatelic association, had the idea of issuing a set of commemorative stamps with a nominal value higher than that of common postage stamps, with the proceeds going toward the fund for holding the Olympic Games. The stamps, with designs featuring ancient Greek athletic competitions, earned a considerable sum of money and the Greek Post became the first sponsor of the Modern Day Olympic Games. Initially only the Olympic host countries issued stamps to commemorate the Olympics. This tradition later ended when other countries alongside France issued stamps for the 1924 Paris Olympics. As the Olympic movement gained in popularity, interest in commemorative stamps grew among philatelic collectors. More stamps were published featuring specific athletes and sports.
1956 Melbourne Olympics
The 1956 Olympics were the first Olympics held in the Southern Hemisphere.
1992 Barcelona Olympics
1996 Atlanta Olympics
Nazim Huseynov, Azerbaijan became a legend in his country when he won the first Olympic gold medal earned by an Azeri athlete after the independence of his country.
2016 Rio Olympics
Engaging and colorful stamps of the 2016 Olympics
2020 Tokyo Olympics
Here are the enchanting stamps of the Tokyo Olympics which were originally scheduled for 2020, however were not held until 2021 due to the COVID pandemic.
Paralympics started in 1960
Since the Summer Games of Seoul, Korea in 1988 and the Winter Games in Albertville, France in 1992 the Games have also taken place in the same cities and venues as the Olympics due to an agreement between the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Heading to Los Angeles
With the close of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad and the extinguishing of the Olympic cauldron, the Olympic flag is now passed from the Mayor of Paris to the Mayor of Los Angeles, USA.
HSE Online Store New Feature
Before we close our summer newsletter, we want to highlight a new feature in the HSE online store. From our Collections Page, you can now Browse By Year for New Issues starting in 2020. We hope you enjoy this new feature as much as we do and look forward to hearing from you.
With best wishes for a pleasant end of summer.
Sincerely,
The Bauer Family
Hungaria Stamp Exchange