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“Stamps are part of the history of the Games and help construct the memory of the biggest sporting event on the planet. We hope that our stamps will take a little of the Games spirit to the public.”Sylmara Multini, Director of Licensing and Retail, Rio 2016Rio 2016 Philatelic ProgrammeThe Olympic host country has issued commemorative postage stamps to accompany every modern Olympic Games since 1896.The first Rio 2016 commemorative postal stamps were launched in March 2015 as part of celebrations to mark 500 days until the Olympic Games, with designs that featured nine Olympic sports.In total, three batches of stamps were released, featuring 31 different designs to reflect the fact that Rio 2016 will be the Games of the XXXI Olympiad.The final batch included designs celebrating the Olympic Torch, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and the official Games mascots. Stamps in this batch were also the first Olympic and Paralympic Games commemorative stamps to be inscribed in Braille. MEDIA GUIDE: IOC MARKETING / 49