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Updated: 13/11/2007

Olympics Listing

The Olympic Games and AFL have shared pride of place in Australian Sporting History, particularly via the sharing of the magnificent MCG and more recently Stadium Australia where four blockbuster AFL games are scheduled for season 2002.

The 1956 Melbourne Olympics

Olympic Stamps of the MCG
Date Issue Country Description
3/4/1956 Monaco The Principality of Monaco issued two stamps for the 1956 Olympics, one for the Winter Olympics in Cortina, and the 30f  stamp for the Melbourne summer Olympics. It showed a stylised drawing of the MCG. The FDC shows an athelete with a stylised stadium.
15/11/1956 Liberia (Scott C104 SG 788) 12c Stylised Drawing of MCG
It also exists with the green missing and the blue missing.
18/08/1960 Haiti To commemorate 1960 17th Olympics Rome
10c Olympic Victors Athens, MCG and torch (Scott 462 SG 708)
50c Pierre de Coubertin, Olympic Victors Athens and MCG (Scott 464 SG 710)
50c Airmail Pierre de Coubertin,  MCG and Olympic torch (Scott C163 SG 712)
2.50 Olympic Victors Athens and MCG (Scott C165 SG 714)
Imperforate miniature sheet of Scott 465 and C165 (SG MS715)
09/09/1960 Haiti To commemorate 1960 17th Olympics Rome
Surcharge of 0.25c + 50c Pierre de Coubertin, Olympic Victors Athens and MCG (Scott CB28 SG 716)
Surcharge of 0.25c + 50c Airmail Pierre de Coubertin,  MCG and Olympic torch (Scott B18 SG 718). The
FDC is shown.
23/11/1979 Romania (Scott 2862 SG 4489) To commemorate 1980 22nd Olympics Moscow
Stylised drawing of MCG and FDC.
25/07/1996 Guyana (Sc 3080 SG 4740) To Commemorate 1996 Atlanta Olympics
The
1956 Olympic Stadium , the Melbourne Cricket Ground
15/3/2000 Russian 20th Century Sports Sheetlet to commemorate Russian Olympic Medalist through time. The sheetlet includes the Russian Soccer Team and Vladimir Kuts, dual winner of the 5000 and 10000 klm race, both at Melbourne in 1956.

 

Olympic Postmarks of the MCG
Date Issue Country Description
22/11/1956 to 8/12/56 Australia APM01166   Stylised drawing of MCG.
  Poland A 1956 Polish Cover and Souvenir Folder for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics appears to have an outline of the Main Stadium, the MCG, as the postmark.

 

Olympic Covers of the MCG
Date Issue Country Description
1/12/1954 Australia Guthrie First Day Cover  Photograph of the MCG
30/11/1955 Australia Guthrie First Day Cover  Similar design to above with a photograph of the MCG.
25/4/1956 Czechoslovakia 1956 Olympic Cover with Olympic Grand Stand
22/10/56 to 8/12/1956 Australia This souvenir card was  released by Mappin and Curran, the largest Philatelic Dealer in Melbourne. It was released in two colours of black/green, in single colours of black, blue (as shown), Red and Green.  It was also released as an souvenir envelope in two colours of Black/Green, in single colours of black, Blue Red and Green. The card or envelope was either blank or  contained the text "First Day Cover October 31 1956" or "Pictorial Postmark",
. Saarland Covers from Saarland in Brown, Pink and Orange.
  Australia Olympic Aerogramme The cachet was also used on a cover from Mauritania for the 1960 Rome and 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
31/10/1956 Australia A Hand Painted Cover was also released by AJ (Jack) Peake of Adelaide. (The Cover Collector No 6) and Auction 132 Prestige Auctions December 2007.
22/11/1956 Australia This Cover was released by an alliance of six other dealers. It shows a stylised MCG  with the second Olympic Publicity stamp issued on the 30th November 1995 and the four Olympic stamps issued on the 31st October 1956. It is cancelled with the Main Stadium Postmark (APM01166) on the 22nd November 1956. It may be found as an envelope or card, and may contain the text, "Posted at the main Olympic Stadium.... or Posted at Olympic City......."
22/11/1956 Australia Parke Davis & Co FDC
Olympic Postcards of the MCG
Date Issue Country Description
  ?Australia This Postcard shows a game of football being played during the construction of the Olympic Stand.
. ?Australia This Postcard shows the Olympic site with Stadium PM (Ebay)
. ?Saarland This Postcard shows a stylised MCG and athelete.

 

1988 Bicentenary
 
Date Issue Country Description
28/9/1988 Australia As part of the Bicentenary Celebrations a cover showing the MCG and celebrating the 1956 Olympics was released.
The 1996 Centenary of Modern Olympics
 
Date Issue Country Description
06/06/1990 Australia Australia released three stamps to commemorate the Centenary of the Modern Olympics. Two 45c se-tenant stamps showed Edwin Flack, Australia's only representative at the 1896 games, and Fanny Durack, the first Australian woman to win a Gold medal. The $1.05 design shows a wheelchair racer. One of the three Maximum Cards, Publicity Card for Olymphilex 96 and the Post Office Pack shows Betty Cuthbert winnning Gold at the 1956 Olympics.

 

The Olympic Bids
Olympic Postcards of the MCG
Date Issue Country Description
22/06/1990 Australia Melbourne made a bid for the 1996 Olympics and Australia Post issued a set of  3 postcards showing the proposed venues. Naturally this included the MCG, along with the National Tennis Centre and the Royal Exhibition Building. The postcards were mint and postmarked with "Olympics For Melbourne 1996" PM. They were re-released on the 18th September 1990 with "Games Logo" PM and catchet. The Games were awarded to Atlanta.
23/9/1993 Australia MCG with voting results on the Back Cover. Produced by Noel Almeida of Limited Edition Covers.

 


Covers of MCG
Date Issue Country Description
18/09/1990 Australia Hand Painted Cover by Frans M Geerling of Oregon USA released to congratulate Atlanta on winning the 1996 games. Cachet maker was Noel Almeida of Limited Edition Covers. 96 were produced

 

 

1998 Olympic Legends
 
Date Issue Country Description
21/1/1998 Australia Australia issued the Annual Legend stamps series for Australia Day, 26th January, to commemorate 6 Olympians, with a sheetlet of 12 stamps shown here in the Post Office Pack. Two First Day Covers, of the same design,  were released by Australia Post. The Cache showed the Australian Team marching at the MCG, in the 1956 Olympics.  (Legends cover with MCG postmark) The Booklet cover also showed the same photo. Five maximum cards were also released. The cards of Betty Cuthbert and Shirley Strickland showed them winning Gold at the 1956 Olympics.
The 2000 Sydney Olympics "The Best Ever"
Countdown to 2000
Date Issue Country Description
14/09/1999 Australia Construction of the MCG . Cover released by First Class Collectables
02/12/1999 Australia The start of the 50Klm walk, the Opening Ceremony, the Finish of the Women's 200m and the Torch Lighting. Covers released by First Class Collectables
Torch Relay
Date Issue Country Description
22/03/1999 Australia Australia Post Maximum Card showing Ron Clarke lighting the Olympic Flame at the MCG. It shows the $1.20 Torch Relay stamp which shows a replica of the 1956 Torch relay stamp. The stamp was also issued in a Special Folder with a 1956 penny.
22/03/1999 Australia Commemorative Cover released by Alpha Covers
30/07/2000 Australia Day 53 - Melbourne. Ron Barrassi carried the torch to Steve Bracks, the premier of Victoria, who gave it to Ron Clarke to re-enact the lighting of the Olympic Flame from 1956.
31/07/2000 Australia Day 54 - Melbourne The cover featured  Malcolm Blight with the Torch relay postmark for Melbourne.
10/08/2000 Australia Day 64 - Healsville  The cover featured Bobby Skilton.
16/08/2000 Australia Day 70 - Paul Kelly and Wayne Carey were featured on the Wagga Cover.
Olympic Stamps of Stadium Australia
Date Issue Country Description
25/9/1998 North Korea North Korea issued a Souvenir Sheet showing Stadium Australia and the Homebush Site.
28/6/2000 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia issued four stamps with four attached labels. The 30d stamp (Sc 2493) had an attached label showing Stadium Australia.
  Serbian Administration of Bosnia The Stadium was also displayed on a label on a souvenir sheet of one stamp from the Serbian Administration of Bosnia, Yugoslavia.  (Scott S/S 122)
1/9/2000 Italy Stamp from Italy (Scott 2363) along with a Maximum Card. First Class Collectables also released a cover for Olymphilex
8/9/2000 Ivory Coast Set of four stamps including the Stamp (Scott 1084)  showing a bird flying across Stadium Australia.
14/9/2000 Sao Tome E Principe Sao Tome E Principe is an island in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, It issued a series of Olympic stamps, one showing Stadium Australia. A 15000d souvenir sheet (Sc 1376) had an attached label featuring Stadium Australia.
. Madagascar Madagascar, an Indian Ocean Island, issued a Souvenir Sheet showing Stadium Australia
. Mauritania Mauritania, a North African Country, issued a Souvenir Sheet showing Stadium Australia (declared illegal issue)
. Mali Mali a North African Country and neighbour of Mauritania issued a Souvenir Sheet showing Stadium Australia.
. Solomon Islands The Solomon Islands issued a Souvenir Sheet showing Stadium Australia.
    Souvenir Cinderella sheets of Cathy Freeman from Udmurtia and Kalmykia.
. Hungary Hungary issued a Souvenir Sheet showing Stadium Australia and their medal winners. (Cinderella)

 

Olympic Covers of Stadium Australia
Date Issue Country Description
21/02/1999 Australia The opening of the stadium was commemorated by a commemorative cover. 
6/2/1999 Australia The First League game at the Stadium  was commemorated by release of a pictorial cover.
20/06/2000 Australia A Focus on Sydney Cover on a Great Southern Land Envelope.
17/08/2000? Australia This Sydney 2000 Aerogramme has an overprint of Stadium Australia.
15/9/2000 Germany Cover from Germany with picture of Stadium and Olympic Frank of the "Internationale Motivgruppen Olympiaden und Sport" (IMOS) a German Philatelic Organisation dedicated to the Olympics and Sport.
18/9/2000 - 2/10/2000 Australia on behalf of China "Under the approval of State Sport General Administration of China, China National Philatelic Corporation entrusted Australia Post to issue a set of Personalized Stamps to commemorate the glorious achievements that the Chinese Athletes had made during the Olympic Games" This is taken from the back of 28 covers with the relevant P stamp, cachet of the relevant Australian Postmark, a cachet of a Chinese postmark and a cachet of Stadium Australia with a stylised figure of the relevant sport. See China Page
. China Set of 28 Postcards. See China Page
. China Set of 24 Postcards (one for each sport China participated in) for the Chinese Sports Delegation some with SA. See China Page

 

 

 

 

The 2000 Paralympic Games
 
Date Issue Country Description
18/10/2000 Australia Tony Lockett was used by the organisers in the Paralympics Torch Relay. FDC of Paralympic Stamp Issue  by Alpha Covers
18/10/2000 Australia FDC of Paralympic Stamp Issue  by Alpha Covers
18/10/2000 Australia Paralympics Maxicard of Paralympic Torch Relay Cover and the Paralympic Stadium Cover
2004 Athens Olympic Games
 
Date Issue Country Description
25/8/2004 Australia Elite Sports Properties produced three limited Edition Special Event Sheets. The surrounds of the sheet, The Modern Games, showed the Australian Team walking into Stadium Australia. First Class Collectables issues covers of Cathy Freeman, Michael Johnson and Jan Zelezny. The surrounds of the sheet, The Golden Era, showed the Australian Team walking into the MCG and Betty Cuthbert running. First Class Collectables issues covers of Betty Cuthbert, Ron Clarke and Larisa Latynina.