On
January
22,
2010, in
Park
City,
Utah,
the
Postal
Service™
issued a
44–cent,
Vancouver
2010
Olympic
Winter
Games
commemorative
stamp in
one
design
in a
pressure–sensitive
adhesive
(PSA)
pane of
20
stamps.
The
stamp
was
designed
by
Howard
E. Paine
of
Delaplane,
Virginia.
With
this
stamp,
featuring
an
illustration
of a
snowboarder,
the U.S.
Postal
Service®
continues
its
tradition
of
honoring
the
spirit
of
athleticism
and
international
unity
inspired
by the
Olympic
Games.
The
stamp
will be
issued
to
coincide
with the
XXI
Olympic
Winter
Games,
which
will be
held in
Vancouver,
British
Columbia,
Canada.
Illustrator
Steven
McCracken,
Winchester,
Virginia,
captures
the
thrill
of one
Olympic
sport by
portraying
an
airborne
snowboarder
against
the
backdrop
of a
snow-capped
mountain.
Artist:
Steve
McCracken
Art
Director/Designer/Typographer
A member
of the
Citizens'
Stamp
Advisory
Committee
before
being
named an
art
director
in 1981,
Howard
Paine
has
supervised
the
design
of more
than 400
U.S.
postage
stamps.
For more
than 30
years he
was as
an art
director
for the
National
Geographic
Society,
where he
redesigned
National
Geographic
magazine,
developed
the
children's
magazine,
National
Geographic
World
,
and
designed
Explorers
Hall. A
popular
lecturer,
he has
spoken
at Yale
University
and New
York
University,
among
others,
and
presented
programs
for the
National
Park
Service
and the
Smithsonian
Institution.
He
judges
art
shows
and
design
competitions
and has
taught
magazine
design
at The
George
Washington
University.
A
resident
of
Delaplane,
Virginia,
he has
been a
stamp
collector
since
childhood.
He
designed
the
catalog
for the
exhibit
Pushing
The
Envelope:
The Art
of the
Postage
Stamp,
which
opened
in
November
2000 at
The
Norman
Rockwell
Museum
at
Stockbridge.
About
the
Vancouver
2010
Olympic
Winter
Games
This
will be
the
second
Olympic
Winter
Games,
after
the 1988
Games in
Calgary,
to be
held in
Canada,
but the
country’s
historic
ties to
the
event go
back
much
further.
Canada
helped
usher in
the
first
Olympic
Winter
Games —
at the
Alpine
resort
of
Chamonix,
France,
in 1924
— by
joining
with
Central
Europe
to
persuade
the
International
Olympic
Committee
to add
an
“International
Winter
Sports
Week” to
the
Games
planned
for that
year.
For
the
Games in
Vancouver,
the
Olympic
torch
relay is
expected
to be
the
longest
to take
place in
a single
country.
Thousands
of
Canadians
will
participate
in
carrying
the
torch
from
Victoria,
BC,
through
every
province
and
territory
of the
country.
After
reaching
St.
John’s,
NL, in
the
east,
the
torch
will
then
make its
journey
back to
British
Columbia.
More
than 80
countries
will
participate
and some
5,000
athletes
and
officials
will be
involved
in the
XXI
Olympic
Winter
Games.
At least
a
million
people
are
expected
to
travel
to
Vancouver,
a
beautiful
city
surrounded
by water
on three
sides
with a
view of
nearby
mountains.
The main
venue
for
skiing
will be
the
resort
village
of
Whistler,
north of
Vancouver.
The
number
of
sports
designated
for
Olympic
Winter
Games
has
grown
over the
years.
In
addition
to those
included
since
1924 —
figure
skating,
ice
hockey,
cross-country
skiing,
bobsled,
Nordic
combined,
ski
jumping,
and
speed
skating
—
athletes
today
compete
in
Alpine
skiing,
biathlon,
luge,
and
curling,
as well
as in
the
newer
disciplines
of
snowboarding,
freestyle
skiing,
and
short-track
speed
skating.
After
making
their
Olympic
debut in
Torino,
Italy,
in 2006,
snowboardcross
and the
team
pursuit
speed
skating
will be
officially
added to
the 2010
program,
which
will
also
include
the
debut of
ski
cross, a
race
down a
technically
challenging
course
resembling
a
motocross
track. |
