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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

How you can buy Paris Olympics and Paralympics collector’s stamps

Stamp collectors - and those looking for affordable Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics souvenirs - have plenty of options with La Poste's special limited-edition Games offering, including a special stamp depicting the Olympic cauldron.

Published: 3 September 2024 09:55 CEST
How you can buy Paris Olympics and Paralympics collector's stamps
An employee checks the quality of the stamps created for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on March 7, 2024. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP)

For fans of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the French postal service, La Poste, is offering a way to memorialise the event.  

La Poste has launched special Olympics themed collector’s stamps, which are now available for purchase online.

The most eye-catching collector’s stamp shows an image of the Olympic cauldron, which has become one of the stand-out attractions of the Games involving a hot-air balloon carrying the torch.

There have already been calls to make the cauldron a permanent part of the Paris landscape.

READ MORE: How to visit the Olympic cauldron in Paris during the Paralympics

The collector’s stamp went on sale in early August, with 130,000 copies made.

La Poste wrote on their website: “‘The Cauldron of the Paris 2024 Games features a revolutionary flame”, noting that it is “without fuel, formed solely from water and light.

“This unique device takes the form of a ring of fire carried by a hot-air balloon that takes to the skies of Paris every evening”.

This stamp is worth €1.96 and can be used for international mail, up to 20g in weight. You can purchase a sheet of four stamps for €10.

What about other collector stamps and souvenirs?

There are other plenty of souvenirs to purchase. For those looking for other Olympics themed stamps, there is the collector’s set of three stamps depicting the three different Olympic and Paralympic medals (Gold, Silver, Bronze). 

The stamps are in the shape of the medals, and they come in a packet in the shape of a podium. One package with the three international stamps (up to 20g) is €10.

La Poste is also selling a collection of eight stamps depicting the Olympic torch relay route for €19.50, as well as a package of four stamps showing the Phryge mascot competing in Olympic and Paralympic events (for €10).

Finally, there is the official Olympics and Paralympics stamp showing the Eiffel Tower. A single stamp is €1.96, and it is for international letters. 

Where can I purchase these items?

You can find all of the limited-edition Olympics collector items sold by La Poste online.

In person, RTL reported that 1,000 post offices in france distribute the Paris 2024 licenced products (more info here). In the Paris area, there are three temporary Paris 2024 post offices – one is located in the Athletes Village, another is at the main press centre of the Palais des Congrès de Paris, and the third is at the International Broadcast Center in Le Bourget.

READ MORE: French post office rolls out scratch-and-sniff baguette stamp

It is not clear how long the products remain available for purchase.

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

France bids final farewell to Olympics with Champs-Elysees parade

France bid a final and reluctant farewell to the Paris Olympics on Saturday with a parade on the Champs-Elysees followed by a concert featuring artists from the opening and closing ceremonies.

Published: 15 September 2024 09:40 CEST
France bids final farewell to Olympics with Champs-Elysees parade

The final event of an acclaimed summer of sport saw tens of thousands of fans gather on the French capital’s most famous avenue to applaud and cheer the nation’s new sporting heroes.

Around 70,000 people gathered for the parade featuring athletes, volunteers and public sector workers, which was followed by a multi-artist concert on a spectacular stage around the Arc de Triomphe.

“Saying thanks, not just to the athletes but to everyone who made these games magic, I think it’s fabulous,” said France’s most-decorated track athlete, Marie-Jose Perec, who lit the cauldron at the start of the Games on July 26.

“It’s a beautiful way of saying goodbye because everything must come to an end and tonight it will all be over,” the visibly emotional 200m and 400m triple gold medallist told reporters as she arrived.

Around 4,000 police were called out for a final test, having won almost almost unanimous praise for the way they kept around 12 million ticket holders for the Olympics and Paralympics safe.

After months of gloom and self-doubt in the run-up to the start of the Olympics, Parisians and the country at large threw themselves into the spirit of the Games once the sport began.

They embraced new champions such as triple gold medal-winning swimmer Leon Marchand while finding fresh reasons to celebrate veterans such as judoka Teddy Riner who won his fourth Olympic title.

“Thank you, thank you, it’s been incredible!” Riner shouted to the cheering crowd.

He, Marchand and Rugby Sevens star Antoine Dupont were among more than 100 French medal winners who were awarded the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest civilian award, in a ceremony at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe led by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The French team finished the Olympics with a record medals haul of 64, including 16 golds, securing fifth place on the international table.

The Paralympic Games from August 28-September 8 were hailed as “the most spectacular ever” by the head of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons.

Escapism

Analysts say the Games served as a form of escapism for many French people worried about the direction of the country as well as generating a rare form of national union and pride.

“Everything worked, everything functioned and French people rediscovered the virtues of national cohesion,” the head of the French Olympic Committee, David Lappartient, told reporters.

Macron is seeking to take advantage of this more positive mood, having faced widespread criticism for his decision to call snap parliamentary elections in June which blindsided Paris 2024 organisers.

The vote resulted in a hung parliament and historic gains for the far-right National Rally party.

Instead of making a speech, he recorded a poetic voiceover over images of the Olympics and Paralympics, saying it was “a summer that had already become part of French sporting legend.”

The 46-year-old was the main instigator of Saturday’s event, which was not originally part of the Olympic or Paralympic programme.

The centrist has also announced his intention to create an Olympics-inspired “national day of sport” every year on September 14.

“We need to spend time together at a day of sport, which would take place in the street, schools, in dedicated sports centres,” he told the Parisien.

Saturday night’s concert featured singer Chris, formerly of Christine & the Queens, who performed at the Paralympics opening ceremony, as well as blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam among others.

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