Date of Issue : 27 July 2011
Royal Mail issued the third and final set of Olympic & Paralympic Games stamps illustrating the whole gamut of Olympic sports on 27 July 2011.
The release of the 10-stamp set has been timed to take place exactly one year before the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Games.The whole 30-stamp series, each of which has been designed by a different artist. Like the previous two sets, this one is printed in litho by Cartor in two sheets, each comprising se-tenant strips of five different designs.All designs feature the official London 2012 logo.
The stamps feature depictions of classic Olympic sports such as field athletics and gymnastics as well as more recent additions to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, including triathlon, handball and wheelchair rugby.
The stamps are the third and final set to be issued during a three-year Games countdown, with the total of 30 representing the largest Royal Mail commission since the Millennium series in 1999 and 2000.
The creation of 30 stamps marks the fact that 2012 will be the start of the 30th Olympiad.
It also represents every one of the 29 sports in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the exception of athletics, which will be featured across two stamps as "Athletics: track" and "Athletics: field".
Commemorative sheet
