U.S. Postal Service Issues Olympic Winter Games Stamp

Snowboarder Featured on Stamp

PARK CITY, Utah, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Postal Service today commemorates the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games with the issuance of a stamp featuring an illustration of a snowboarder. The stamp goes on sale today in Park City, UT, and in Post Offices across the United States. The XXI Olympic Winter Games will be held Feb. 12-28, 2010, in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100122/DC41956)

First-day-of-issue ceremonies for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Stamp immediately follow the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix at Park City Mountain Resort, Park City, UT. Alan C. Kessler, member, Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service, and Dick Coe, Executive Vice President and chief operating officer, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, are the dedicating officials.

"We are proud to support the Olympics and are pleased to be able to continue the tradition of honoring the Games by issuing postage stamps celebrating different Olympic sports," says Gov. Kessler.

Illustrator Steve McCracken captures the thrill of Olympic sports in his portrayal of an airborne snowboarder against the backdrop of a snow-capped mountain.

Stamps featuring Olympic themes have been popular since the first modern Olympiad in 1896, when Greece issued 12 Olympic-themed commemorative stamps. Beginning in 1932, when the Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles, CA, numerous U.S. stamps have honored the Games.

About the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games

This will be the second Olympic Winter Games, after the 1988 Games in Calgary, to be held in Canada, but the country's historic ties to the event go back much further. Canada helped usher in the first Olympic Winter Games -- at the Alpine resort of Chamonix, France, in 1924 -- by joining with Central Europe to persuade the International Olympic Committee to add an "International Winter Sports Week" to the Games planned for that year.

For the Games in Vancouver, the Olympic torch relay is expected to be the longest to take place in a single country. Thousands of Canadians will participate in carrying the torch from Victoria, BC, through every province and territory of the country. After reaching St. John's, NL, in the east, the torch will then make its journey back to British Columbia.

More than 80 countries will participate and some 5,000 athletes and officials will be involved in the XXI Olympic Winter Games. At least a million people are expected to travel to Vancouver, a beautiful city surrounded by water on three sides with a view of nearby mountains. The main venue for skiing will be the resort village of Whistler, north of Vancouver.

The number of sports designated for Olympic Winter Games has grown over the years. In addition to those included since 1924 -- figure skating, ice hockey, cross-country skiing, bobsled, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating -- athletes today compete in Alpine skiing, biathlon, luge, and curling, as well as in the newer disciplines of snowboarding, freestyle skiing, and short-track speed skating. After making their Olympic debut in Torino, Italy, in 2006, snowboardcross and the team pursuit speed skating will be officially added to the 2010 program, which will also include the debut of ski cross, a race down a technically challenging course resembling a motocross track.

First-Day-of-Issue Postmark

Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. New stamps may be purchased at a local Post Office™, at The Postal Store® website at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Stamp

Main Post Office

2100 Park Avenue

Park City, UT  84068-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by March 23, 2010.

First-Day Covers

Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:

Information Fulfillment

Dept. 6270

U.S. Postal Service

PO Box 219014

Kansas City, MO  64121-9014

Philatelic Products

Three philatelic products available for this stamp issue:

• 440061, First-Day Cover, 0.82.
• 440091, Ceremony Program, $6.95.
• 440093, First-Day Cover Keepsake, $9.95.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world's mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 28th in the 2009 Fortune 500.

SOURCE U.S. Postal Service