The Post Office will release four stamps on Tuesday, August 24, depicting the 2004 XXVIII Olympic Games being held in Athens, Greece.
The stamps feature Bahamian athletes in competition at the Athens Games.
The 15 cent stamp depicts a Bahamian boxer, the 50 cents stamp, a swimmer; the 65 cents stamp, a tennis player; and the 70 cents stamp, a track relay runner.
A brief history of the Olympic Games provided by the Post Office states that the origins of the ancient Olympic Games are shrouded in myth and legend. However, it is generally accepted that the first Olympic Games, comprising just one race, were held in 776 BC.
There are written records for this, but it is believed that the Games had taken place for many years before. The Games continued and grew for over a 1,000 years, being played every four years, until they were abolished in 393 AD by Emperor Theodosius I.
It was in the latter part of the 19th Century that a young Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin began the revival of the Olympic Games. In 8090, Coubertin founded a sports association, ﾓUnion des Societies Francaises de Sports Athletiques.ﾒ
Two years later, in November, 1892, Coubertin first suggested the revival of the Olympic Games, and although he was not the first to do this, he was by far the most persistent and well connected.
It was to take another two years until his perseverance started to pay dividends. At a meeting comprising 79 delegates from nine countries it was agreed hat the Olympic Games should be revived.
Coubertin set up an international committee that was to become the International Olympic Committee (IOC). A Greek, Demetrious Vikelas was elected as its first president and Athens was selected to host the first modern Games in 1896.
The modern Olympic Games have been held every four years since, with the exceptions of 1916 (First World War) and 1940 and 1944 (Second World War).
Many major cities across the world have hosted the Games over the last 100 years, and this year the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad have returned to Athens. Athletes across the world are taking part in many different sporting disciplines for a chance to win gold for their respective nations.
The Olympic Flag was created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913/1914 and flown for the first time in 1920. In its five differently coloured rings symbolizing the five continents all interconnecting to symbolize friendship, the flag will fly throughout the Games.
The rings, from left to right, are blue, yellow, black, green and red, and were chosen because at least one of the colours appears on the flag of every country within the Olympic movement.
All athletes will also strive to echo the Olympic motto: ﾓSwifter, Higher, Strongerﾒ and endeavour to abide by the Olympic creeds: ﾓThe most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.ﾒ
The Bahama Journal
