Royal Mail : Helen Glover & Heather Stanning GB Gold Medalist Stamp

Gold Medal stamp to celebrate Helen Glover and Heather Stanning’s gold medal win in the Women’s Pairs rowing final.

A fleet of 90 Royal Mail vehicles will deliver the stamps across the UK to over 500 Post Offices including in Helen’s home town of Penzance and Reading, Berkshire where the pair live. Royal Mail will also paint a much-loved red post box gold in each of their hometowns of Lossiemouth, Moray and Penzance, Cornwall to celebrate their gold medal win.
As well as Helen and Heather’s achievement a fantastic first as never before has a women’s team won an Olympic rowing event, but it’s also the first all-women sports team ever to appear on a Royal Mail stamp. It is also the first stamp that Royal Mail has ever produced within 24 hours, normally it takes anything up to two years from conception to the finished stamps appearing on sale to the general public.
As soon as Helen and Heather won their gold medal, Getty Images, the official Photo Agency of the IOC, submitted a selection of the best images from that moment to the eight-strong Royal Mail design team. The Royal Mail design team had just one hour to review all the images sent, locate the most fitting and atmospheric image, crop and refine the photo, add Helen and Heather’s name, then position within the templated design of the six-stamp miniature sheet.





Romania : 2012 London Olympic Stamps

Saina Nehwal wins bronze medal in London 2012

Saina Nehwal today created history by becoming the first Indian to win an Olympic Games bronze medal in badminton, though under fortuitous circumstances, as her world number two Chinese opponent retired from the play-off because of a knee injury.
The 22-year-old Saina was trailing 18-21, 0-1 in the high-voltage bronze medal play-off match when her second seeded opponent Xin Wang retired hurt, giving India an unexpected medal without having to sweat much.
Saina also became the second Indian woman to win an Olympic medal, after Karnam Malleswari's weightlifting bronze in 2000 Sydney Olympics.
With the addition of Saina's bronze, India's medal collection in the ongoing Olympics has gone upto three with pistol shooter Vijay Kumar (silver) and seasoned marksman Gagan Narang (bronze) being the other medal winners.
The packed Wembly arena, which had a seizable chunk of vociferous Indian supporters cheering for Saina, were taken by surprise when the script suddenly changed with Wang getting injured towards the very end of the first game.
Wang got herself medical attention and even went in for the second game but conceded the match after just one point. A thunderous roar greeted Saina when it was announced that she had won the bronze medal and Wang had retired.
"I still can't believe that I have won a medal. In badminton, I never believed that India could win a medal because the competition is so tough. It is a dream come true for me," Saina said after the match.
"I had trained hard and there was a lot of expectation. I initially thought that she was just taking rest as she was tiring, but then I realised she was injured. It's sad that she got injured, but I was confident of beating her as I was coming into rhythm," she said.

Tanzania : 2012 London Olympic Stamps

Shame on America : Is this Olympic Spirit??????????

In a stunning reversal of fortunes, Indian boxer Vikas Krishan (69kg) was on Saturday ousted from the Olympics after the International Boxing Association (AIBA) overturned the result of his pre-quarterfinal bout, that he had won, following a review.

The 20-year-old had won 13-11 over Errol Spence in a thrilling contest on Friday night but following an appeal by his rival's team management, the AIBA awarded the bout 15-13 to the American.

"There were a total of nine (9) holding fouls committed by the Indian boxer in the third round alone. However the Referee only gave one caution," the AIBA said in a statement after a review by its Competition Jury.
"In the second round, at the time 02:38, the boxer from India spitted out his gumshield intentionally. However the Referee didn't give any warning," it added.

Based on these "findings", the jury members "unanimously" decided to award Spence four points, thereby making him the winner.

"Based on the AIBA Technical & Competition Rules 12.1.9, the Referee should have given at least two (2) warnings to the Indian boxer.”

“Although the boxer from India intentionally spitted out his gumshield, the Referee's view was blocked by the boxer from the USA and was not able to see the action," it international body said.

"...at least four points should have been awarded to the boxer from the USA. Therefore the final score should be 13:15 in favour of the USA. The protest is accepted and the winner of Bout 142 is Errol Spence (USA)," the AIBA statement added.

Vikas, only the second Indian boxer after Vijender to fetch a bronze medal in the World Championship, was among the biggest medal prospects for the country.

Earlier, India were at the wrong end of the AIBA review system when the country's appeal against the close opening-round loss of Sumit Sangwan (81kg) was rejected by the world body's competition jury.

Boxing at the ongoing Olympics has been marred by several controversies with AIBA's scoring system coming under severe criticism.

Two judges have been suspended so far after protests by participating teams.

Meanwhile, Spence has moved into the quarterfinals to face Russia's Andrey Zamkovoy on Tuesday.

Vijay Kumar Wins Silver Medal in London 2012

London: Army sharpshooter Vijay Kumar on Friday fought a nerve-wracking battle with five other top marksmen to clinch the silver medal in the men’s 25m rapidfire pistol event at the Olympic Games in London.
Kumar beat back the challenge of world champion Alexei Klimov of Russia, the Chinese duo of Ding Feng and Zhang Jian, and German Christian Reitz in the 40-shot final to finish runner-up behind Cuba’s Leuris Pupo, who shot his way to the gold with a world record equalling score of 34.

The 26-year-old army subedar from Himachal Pradesh found the target 30 times out of 40 attempts in the series comprising eight rounds of five shots each.

This is India’s second medal in the current Olympics after fellow marksman Gagan Narang’s bronze in the 10m air rifle event on 30 July. This was also the country’s fourth medal in shooting in Olympic history.
The other medal winners are Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (silver in 2004 Athens) and Abhinav Bindra (gold in 2008 Beijing).
Kumar started with a bang, hitting the target all five times, and kept himself in the hunt for a medal by consistently finding the target.
After a perfect five out of five at the start, Kumar, a double gold medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, found the target four times in the second and third series, but missed it twice in the fourth.
He came back strongly by finding the target four times in the next three rounds and assured himself of a silver. In the last round, after Pupo shot four to clinch the gold, Kumar seemed to relax a bit and missed three targets.
The bronze medal was won by Feng with a tally of 27.

Tonga : 2012 London Olympic Stamps and FDC

Serbia : 2012 London Olympic Stamps and FDC

Online Catalogue for 2012 London Olympic Commemorative Stamps

Online Catalogue for 2012 London Olympic Commemorative Stamps :

http://ganesh-myolympicphilately.blogspot.com/search/label/2012%20London%20Olympic%20Stamp%20Catalogue

Bulgaria : 2012 London Olympic Stamps and FDC

London 2012 Olympic gold medal

London 2012 Olympic gold medal

Designed especially for each Games, the medals are what every athlete strives to win.

The medals at the London 2012 Olympic Games will be awarded during a total of 302 Victory Ceremonies, taking places at venues across the UK.

The medals have been designed by David Watkins, an established artist in the field of decorative art, and are in production at the Royal Mint headquarters in Llantrisant, South Wales.

The story behind the medal

The Olympic medals’ circular form is a metaphor for the world. The front of the medal always depicts the same imagery at the Summer Games – the Greek Goddess of Victory, Nike, stepping out of the depiction of the Parthenon to arrive in the Host City.
The design for the reverse features five symbolic elements:

- The curved background implies a bowl similar to the design of an amphitheatre.
- The core emblem is an architectural expression, a metaphor for the modern city, and is deliberately jewel-like.
- The grid suggests both a pulling together and a sense of outreach – an image of radiating energy that represents the athletes’ efforts.
- The River Thames in the background is a symbol for London and also suggests a fluttering baroque ribbon, adding a sense of celebration.
- The square is the final balancing motif of the design, opposing the overall circularity of the design, emphasising its focus on the centre and reinforcing the sense of ‘place’ as in a map inset.

Medal specification

- The London 2012 Olympic medals weigh 375-400g, are 85mm in diameter and 7mm thick.
- The gold medal is made up of 92.5% silver and 1.34% gold, with the remainder copper (a minimum of 6g of gold).
- The silver medal is made up of 92.5% silver, with the remainder copper.
- The bronze medal is made up of 97.0% copper, 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin.

The precious ore for the medals has been supplied by London 2012 sponsor Rio Tinto and was mined at Kennecott Utah Copper Mine near Salt Lake City in America, as well as from the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia. For the small amount of non-precious elements that make up the bronze medals, the zinc was sourced from a mine in Australia as well as from recycled stock, while the tin originates from a mine in Cornwall.

How the designs were chosen

When creating the brief, the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) Victory Ceremonies team worked closely with the British Museum’s Keeper of Coins and Medals, Philip Attwood, to look at the symbolic history of medals in Europe in the last century.

An independent panel of Sir John Sorrel (chair), Sir Mark Jones, Catherine Johnson, Ade Adepitan (deputy chair), Iwona Blazwick OBE, Niccy Hallifax and Martin Green was set up to look at the designs submitted by over 100 artists. The LOCOG Athletes’ Committee, chaired by Jonathan Edwards, and the British Olympic Association (BOA) were also involved throughout the process.

The medals can be seen at the British Museum throughout the Games. 

Poland : 2012 London Olympic Stamps and FDC



author: Agata Tobolczyk
number of stamps: 4
denomination: PLN 1,55, PLN 1,95, PLN 2,40, PLN 3
print run: 240.000 of each stamp
printing tech nique: offset
stamp size: 43 x 31,25 mm
paper: fluorescent
selling sheets: 4 stamps
circulation date: 27 July 2012

Ukraine : 2012 London Olympic Stamps and FDC

Gagan Narang wins India’s first medal at 2012 Olympics

Gagan Narang won the bronze medal for India in the 10-m air rifle event at the London Olympics 2012 with Romania's Alin George Moldoveanu winning gold and Italy's Niccolo Campriani winning silver

Ace marksman Gagan Narang on Monday opened India’s account in the London Olympic Games by clinching the bronze medal in the men’s 10m air rifle event here.

Narang shot 103.1 in a gripping ten-shot finals for an aggregate of 701.1 after scoring 598 in the qualifying round in which also he stood third.

The gold was won by Romania’s Moldoveanu Alin George who tallied 702.1, that included 103.1 in the final, to upset world number 1 Niccolo Campriani of Italy who stood second with 701.5 at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

After a good start when he shot 10.7, Narang was off target with his second shot that fetched him 9.7. But he gathered his wits and steadied his aim to collect 10.6 10.7 10.4 and 10.6 in the following four shots to at one stage remain on course for bagging even a silver.

However, he slipped a bit and had to fight for the bronze medal with China’s Wang Tao who finished fourth with 700.4.

After returning poor scores of 9.9 and 9.5 in the seventh and eighth attempts, Narang pulled up his socks to seal the bronze with impressive scores of 10.3 and 10.7.

Narang’s compatriot and defending champion Abhinav Bindra had, however, suffered a shocking exit with his dismal show in the preliminaries in which he stood 16th out of 47 contestants with a score of 594 out of 600.

Narang’s bronze medal is only the third in shooting on the planet’s biggest sporting event after Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s silver in double trap in Athens 2004 and Bindra’s gold in the last Games at Beijing.

This was also India’s eighth individual medal in the Olympic Games.

With Alin George and Campriani able to maintain their grip on the top two positions, the competition for the bronze medal had boiled down to a tense contest between the Indian and his Chinese rival over the last few shots in which Narang prevailed.

There was stage when Campriani’s poor efforts of 9.9 and 9.4 in the eighth and the penultimate series gave Narang a whiff of chance of winning the silver, but the Italian fired a 10.4 in his last shot to dash the Indian’s hope of finishing second.

Earlier, Narang had kept alive India’s hopes by advancing to the medal round after Bindra crashed out.

Bindra, who scripted history four years ago by becoming the country’s first—ever individual gold medallist in the Olympics, shot 594 out of 600 to finish a shocking 16th out of 47 competitors and lost the golden chance of becoming the world’s first shooter to win two successive gold medals at the mega event.

However, Narang kept India in the hunt by finishing third with 598, a point behind Campriani and Alin George who both shot an Olympic record—equalling 599 to stand first and second in the qualifying round.

President congratulates Narang

President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday congratulated shooter Gagan Narang for winning a bronze medal in the 10m Air Rifle event of the London Olympics.

Narang shot 103.1 in a gripping ten-shot finals for an aggregate of 701.1 after scoring 598 in the qualifying round in which also he stood third.

Beijing Olympics gold medallist Abhinav Bindra could not make the final in the same event.

Croatia : 2012 London Olympic Stamp and FDC