1996 Centennial Olympic Games Stamp

In late 1995, the U.S. Postal Service announced plans to issue a stamp to commemorate the centennial of the modern-era Olympic Games. The stamp would be in addition to a sheet of 20 different stamps commemorating different Olympic sports, an accompanying set of 20 different postal cards containing the same images, and a 1996 Paralympic Games stamped envelope -- all issued May 2, 1996.

The design chosen to mark the Olympics' centennial was Myron's classic Discobolus statue. The original bronze statue of a discus thrower disappeared long ago, but Roman artists later made several copies in marble. The copy on which this stamp is based is housed at the Italian National Museum in Rome.

Myron, who lived in 5th-century B.C. Greece, was a well-known member of a new school of Greek art that incorporated motion into free-standing statues. In this case, Myron has caught a discus thrower at the peak of his backswing, poised for eternity just before spinning his body in powerful rotations to give the discus even greater speed at the moment of release. History does not record whether Discobolus recognized a particular Olympic athlete, but Myron is known to have produced other statues honoring specific heroes. In any event, it has evolved into a powerful symbol of the spirit of Olympic athletic competition -- particular considering the fact that both the statue and the modern-day Olympic Games originated in Athens, Greece.

With the advent of the modern-day Olympics in 1896, host-country Greece issued a set of 12 Olympic stamps. Two of the issues featured the statue of Discobolus. The next country to utilize Myron's famous work was Belgium, which in conjunction with hosting the 1920 Olympics, issued a semi-postal series of three stamps -- one of which featured Discobolus. Interestingly, the surtax on the stamp went not to defray the cost of the Olympics but instead to benefit Belgian soldiers wounded in World War I.

So far, Discobolus has appeared on four U.S. stamps. In 1932, the U.S. hosted both the Winter and Summer Olympics. To mark the occasion, the U.S. issued its first Olympics commemorative stamps--one in January for the Winter Olympics and two in June to mark the Summer Olympics. Of the latter stamps, one was a 5-cent blue stamp showing the Discobolus statue.

Discobolus appeared a second time in 1948 on a stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of the American Turners, a society for the advancement of physical education and recreation that was popular in the first half of the 20th century. The statue was featured a third time on a 1965 stamp marking the centennial of the American Sokol Organization, an affiliate of an international gymnastic society.

The 1996 Olympic centennial stamp marked the fourth U.S. issue to incorporate Discobolus. Interestingly, pre-release publicity photographs of the stamp showed it to use a photograph of the statue, which creates a noticeably different appearance than the engraved version of the stamp actually issued. [Click here to view comparison.] The 32-cent stamp was issued in sheets of 20 stamps.

First day of issue ceremonies for the Discobolus stamp were held on the seventh floor of Atlanta's Merchandise Mart in conjunction with OLYMPHILEX '96 (Olympic Philatelic Exhibition 1996). What began as an international stamp exhibit and show sponsored by the International Olympic Committee, the quadrennial event held in conjunction with the Summer Olympic Games has expanded to include coins, pins, and other Olympic collectibles and memorabilia. A large crowd was present for the July 19 ceremonies unveiling the stamp, especially each members of the audience was given a souvenir program that contained the stamp and a first day of issue cancellation. Among the special guests honored by the Postal Service at the ceremonies was Lexington, Georgia's Nancy Zielinski Clark, who was chairman of OLYMPHILEX '96.

After the ceremony at which the stamp was unveiled, the Olympic Centennial stamp went on sale at a large U.S. Postal Service booth nearby. Here, anyone could purchase the stamp and get the official first day of issue cancellation -- available only at this booth. Also, OLYMPHILEX '96 had a special postal cancel for each day of the show, and collectors could get the July 19 show cancel -- which became an unofficial first day of issue cancel for the Olympic Centennial stamp. Another unofficial Junly 19 first day cancel was the special "Olympic Family" cancel applied at Atlanta's Marriott Marquis hotel. Australian and U.S. postal authorities also cooperated for a special cancel at the Fox Theatre. In addition to the variety of July 19 cancels, numerous covers with cachets (thematic designs printed or drawn on the left side of the envelope) were prepared to create special -- and sometimes unique -- souvenirs of the release of the Olympic Centennial stamp [click here for example].

(c) Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia

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Go to OLYMPHILEX '96 web site