The first Rio 2016 commemorative postal stamps were launched on Tuesday (24 March) evening at a special event at the organising committee’s headquarters, held as part of the ‘500 days until the Olympic Games’ celebrations. Rio 2016, in partnership with the Brazilian Post Office, unveiled 10 designs that feature nine Olympic sports – basketball, rugby, weightlifting, rowing, aquatics, archery, cycling, badminton and wrestling – and Paralympic athletics.

There will be 31 different designs in total, reflecting the fact that Rio 2016 will be the Games of the XXXI Olympiad. Two more batches will be launched this year – the second comprising 10 stamps and the third featuring 11 stamps.

“The stamps are part of the history of the Games and help construct the memory of the biggest sporting event on the planet,” said Sylmara Multini, Rio 2016’s Licensing Director. “We are very proud of the first batch in the series – our stamps our joyful and modern, like Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – and how the Games will be. We hope that our stamps will take a little of the Games spirit to the public, along with the coins and pins.”

The designs show athletes from each sport in motion and the background is formed by the Rio 2016 visual identity – or ‘Look of the Games’ – with the pattern becoming even clearer when looking at a complete sheet of stamps.

Using digital and traditional design techniques, the stamps were created by Brazilian graphic designer and illustrator José Carlos Braga, with supervision from the Rio 2016 Licensing and Branding departments.

There will be 2.4 million stamps in circulation, each with a value of 1.30 Brazilian reais (US$ 0.41), available to buy at Brazilian post offices. They can also be bought online or by email (centralvendas@correios.com.br) although these services are only available to Brazilian residents. The international sales strategy is currently being developed.