Stamp talk

By Philatelist

I was fortunate enough to be in Sydney during the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Just as much as I enjoyed watching the Games a few days at the venue (including the historic win by Susanthika), it was a wonderful experience for a keen collector of stamps. What planning by Australia Post to make it a most memorable event for enthusiasts!

For the first time in Olympic history, gold medallists of the host country were featured on the country’s stamps and made available to the public within 24 hours following a medal win. By making the stamps available by noon the day following the gold medal win by an Australian athlete, the whole country could celebrate victories by its team.  

Planning was started two years ahead of the Games – in 1998. A stamp template was designed to allow for an image of the winner(s) to be placed into it. The design being a square one, provided flexibility allowing both individuals and teams to be featured along with the Australian team logo, different backgrounds, and event names.

The production process had to be meticulously planned. No sooner the gold medal was awarded, a range of photographs of the winner was transmitted electronically to the Sydney print site where a suitable picture was chosen and fitted into the existing template along with the other features. The final design was checked by the Australian Olympic Committee.

A special album was made available for the collectors to make it a wonderful keepsake of all the postal material released during the Games.

The Australian team members did their bit. There were so many gold medallists. The swimming team gave the lead. Starting with the exciting Ian Thorpe winning the swimming – men’s 400m freestyle, the team won two freestyle relays and Grant Hackett (men’s 1,500 freestyle). Among the women, there was Cathay Freeman winning the women’s 400m and Lauren Burns, the Taekwondo under 49kg winner. Michael Diamond won the shooting: men’s trap and the equestrian team was featured when they won the three-day event.

The women’s hockey team with 16 players was quite a handful for a stamp. Their names appeared in the sheetlet selvedge. So did the women’s water polo team with 13 players. In all there were seven individuals, and nine teams winning golds.

Apart from these unique stamps, Australia Post had a lot to offer the collectors.

A month before the Games, an issue of ten stamps featured ten sports. “The fluid technique used to represent the athletes communicated the emotion, energy and grace of Olympic competition while the bold multi-coloured background conveyed the celebration of the Games as an event,” an explanatory note stated.  In addition to first day covers, attractive postcards were released for each stamp.  All ten stamps were displayed on a bigger card.

A stamp to mark the opening of the Games was released on 14 September.