Philatelic news from London Olympics 2012…

 

Gold Medal heroes on stamps

 

Australia

Tom Slingsby becomes first individual medalist to feature on 2012 Australian Gold Medallist stamp

After winning Australia's first individual gold medal of the London 2012 Olympic Games, sailing superstar and five time world champion, Tom Slingsby, will become Australia's first individual gold medalist to feature on a 2012 Australian Gold Medalist Stamp.

Stamps featuring an image of Slingsby from the gold medal dais in London will be available in participating Australia Post retail outlets from Thursday, 9 August while stocks last.

Australia Post is producing stamps for every Australian gold medalist from the London 2012 Olympic Games, and they are expected to be available in metropolitan Australia Post outlets within 48 hours of each gold medal presentation.

 

 

Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Team features on first 2012 Australian Gold Medallist Stamp

After their gold medal-winning performance in the Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay on Saturday 28 July, Alicia Coutts, Cate Campbell, Brittany Elmslie and Melanie Schlanger will be the first Australian athletes to feature on the Australian Gold Medallist Stamps for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Some best designed  Stamps on London Olympics 2012

 

Most beautiful stamp issued for LONDON 2012 !!

Slovakia

During these Olympic Games, 10,500 athletes from 204 countries are struggling for 302 collections of medals in 26 Olympic sports.

The first Paralympic Games for physically handicapped sportsmen, mostly British soldiers - disabled people from WWII, were held on 29th July1948. It took place on the same day as the Opening Ceremony of the XIV Olympic Games. The Paralympic Games are coming back to its cradle with a wide-ranging schedule for more than 4,000 contestants from 166 countries who are participating in 21 disciplines.

Besides the traditional Olympic disciplines (light athletics, swimming, weightlifting, fencing, equestrian disciplines, cycling, rowing, yachting) or games (football, volleyball, basketball, rugby, tennis, table tennis),an extremely popular game of boccia or goalball has also been introduced.. It was devised after WWII as a ball game for visually impaired soldiers. It is played in silence and players try to throw a ball that has bells embedded in it into the opponent's goal. The players do not see the ball; they only hear it. But after the goal, the applause is a legitimate doping!

Costa Rica

Portugal

Date of Issue : 19 June 2012

 

From our Readers…..

Stamps on ‘WORLD HERITAGE’

- Pradip Kumar Malik

HIGH COAST (SWEDEN)

The High Coast is located on the west shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, a northern extension of the Baltic Sea. The area covers 142,500 ha including a marine component of 80,000 ha, which includes a number of offshore islands. UNESCO designated High Coast as World Heritage property in 2000 for being an outstanding example representing major stages of Earth’s history.

Sweden 2005

Se-tenant set of four stamps, with views of the High Coast. In the lower selvedge, stamps are inscribed in Swedish "Världsarvet Höga Kusten" (World Heritage High Coast). The stamps are from a booklet pane of eight stamps, and are perforated on three sides.

The irregular topography of the region - a series of lakes, inlets and flat hills rising to 350 m - has been largely shaped by the combined processes of glaciations, glacial retreat and the emergence of new land from the sea. Since the last retreat of the ice from the High Coast 9,600 years ago, the uplift has been in the order of 285 m which is the highest known 'rebound'.

The High Coast site affords outstanding opportunities for the understanding of the important processes that formed the glaciated and land uplift areas of the Earth's surface. The site is one of the places in the world that is experiencing isostatic uplift as a result of deglaciation. Isostatic rebound is well-illustrated and the distinctiveness of the site is the extent of the total isostatic uplift which, at 294m, exceeds others.

Mr Pradeep Kumar Malik may be contacted at email : mallikphila@gmail.com