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.