Olympics

The Isle of Man issued four stamps (middle column above) for the Rio games and although I don't usually buy stamp sheets I couldn't resist this one which featured photos from the London Olympic Games.   They even produced a "Good Luck" poster (pdf warning) to the Manx participants of  the cyclist Mark Cavendish and  the shooter Tim Kneale and wished the cyclist Peter Kennaugh a speedy recovery (he had to withdraw from the GB Team after breaking his collarbone in the Tour of California as felt only 70 per cent fit).

What did Royal Mail produce for the event? Zilch. I know its a busy stamp year for anniversaries but they could have at least produced one, or even a stamp booklet.  I will turn instead to multi Gold Medal winner, Laura Trott

2012: London Olympics Gold Medal - Laura Trott

who also won Gold again in Rio so this stamp is still topical

and she is also GB's most successful female Olympian of all time with a total of four Gold Medals, not bad for a girl who began cycling to improve her breathing being born with a collapsed lung and asthma.

I've been lucky enough to visit Olympia so I always like to see a classic view harking back to the original games

which appeared on the 1932 USA stamp for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The famous c450BC Discobolus of Myron statue depicting harmony and balance.  The world globe spins in the background.  The cancel is a bit heavy but it does give me an excuse to show a postcard from the 1950s of

the Post Office of 1902 in Elgin, Illinois which it may have travelled through (found on the Post Marks Collectors site of pictures of US Post Offices). Alas it no longer exists and today one can only sit on a seat in its footmark (see the lament on Elgin Then and Now).

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Olympics - more Games at See It On A Postcard