Stamp Title: The Centennial Olympic Games and 26th Olympic Games
Scott No: 2686
Serial number: 1996-13
Values in set: 1
(1-1), 100th Anniversary of the Olympic Games and 26th Olympic Games, 20 fen, 27*40mm
Date of issue: June 23, 1996
Designers: Ren Yu; Huang Li
Size: 27*40mm
Perforation: 12
Sheet composition: 28
Printing process: offset
Printing housing: Henan postage stamp printing housing

The Olympic Games is the world’s most important amateur sports competition. It is said that the first games was held in 776BC, in the Olympia, Greece. The one-day event for the early games just included race. Later the games were held regularly, with more events added, including race, discus throw, javelin throw, jumping, boxing, wrestling, trotting race, and pentathlon. The winners of the sever-day games supplemented with religious rites were honored as national heroes. The Games were ordered to a halt by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I (345-395) in AD393, when Greece was conquered.

In late 19th century, French Baron Pierre de Coubertin advocated the restoration of the games, and the first modern Olympic Games, sponsored by the then Greek king, was held in Athens in 1896. From then on, the games were held every four years, until this year’s 26th Games. However, the games were canceled during the two World Wars period, and the first Winter Olympic Games was held in Chamonix, France in 1924.

Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is in charge of guiding the modern Olympic sports and organizing the Games.

The main events of the modern Olympic Games include: archery, basketball, boxing, owing, ycling, orsemanship, sport fencing, soccer, gymnastics, handball, track and field events, hockey, judo, pentathlon, canoeing, shooting, swimming, diving, water polo, volleyball, weight lifting and wrestling.

Before 1949, China had sent delegations to take part in the Games for several times, but without winning a medal. For various reasons, the New China did not participate in the IOC until late 1970s. Xu Haifeng won the first ever gold medal for China in the men’s free pistol shooting event in the 23rd Olympic Games in 1984.

1996年纪念邮票《奥运百年暨第二十六届奥运会》
国家邮政局1996年6月23日发行《奥运百年暨第二十六届奥运会》纪念邮票1套1枚。
（1-1）J 奥运百年暨第二十六届奥运会 20 分 3675.35万枚

志号名称：1996-13J
版别：胶印
整版枚数：28枚
邮票规格：27 × 40毫米
齿孔度数：12 度
设计者：任宇、 黄里
印制机构：河南省邮电印刷厂

第二十六届奥林匹克运动会于1996年7月9日至8月4日在美国亚特兰大举行。本届奥运会适逢现代奥林匹克运动诞生一百周年，其盛况空前。本届比赛中设26个大项271个小项，共有来自世界197个国家和地区的10788名运动员参加了各项比赛的角逐，各国选手经过17天的激烈争夺共打破25项世界纪录。上述数字皆创造了奥运会历史上的新纪录。

在本届奥运会的赛场上，我国代表团面对种种不利条件，团结拼搏 ，获得了16金22银12铜的可喜成绩，金牌、奖牌榜均列第四，实现了冲击第二集团首位的预定目标。此外，中国代表团还有两人4次打破4项世界记录。

1996年6月23日。为纪念现代奥林匹克运动100周年和第26届奥运会，邮电部发行了《奥运百年暨第26届奥运会》纪念邮票，全套1枚。