The four stamps issued by India Post to celebrate Olympics 2012 and (above) a diver practises at a stadium in London on Thursday. Telegraph and Reuters pictures

Sports lovers and philatelists can immortalise their memories of London Olympics by collecting the postage stamps and souvenir sheet released by India Post to commemorate the athletic extravaganza.

India Post has been issuing commemorative stamps for every Olympics since 1968. This year, they have issued a set of four.

Anil Kumar, director, business development, technology and marketing, General Post Office (GPO), Patna, told The Telegraph on Thursday: “The stamps commemorating the Olympics were officially released yesterday (Wednesday) by the department of posts in New Delhi. They symbolise the athletic spirit and show sportspersons engaged in volleyball, rowing, sailing and badminton.”

He added that the stamps would be available at the philatelic bureau of GPO, Patna, and other post offices across the state.

The two stamps with pictures of rowing and sailing are available for Rs 5 each, and those with images of volleyball and badminton can be purchased for Rs 20 each. Four lakh of each stamp and 20,000 souvenir sheets have been printed at India Security Press, Nasik, Maharashtra

The Bihar circle of India Post will also organise an exhibition on July 28, where philatelists from across the state will show- case their collection of Olympic stamps.

Rakhi boost

India Post has also launched special waterproof Rakhi envelopes for the festival.

Kumar said these envelopes, available in four different designs, have received a very good response.