Cross-Country Skiing, Calgary, 1988 - 36 cents 1987 - Canadian stamp
Specifications
- Quantity: 8 200 000
- Issue date: November 13, 1987
- Printer: Canadian Bank Note Company, Limited
- Scott: #1152
Description
The fourth issue of Calgary Olympic Winter Games stamps features cross-country skiing and ski jumping. Cross-country skiing originated around 3000 BC in the Scandinavian countries as a form of transportation. Archaeologists speculate that it first appeared in Canada about 1000 AD at the short-lived Viking settlement of L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. Scandinavian prospectors and railway builders reintroduced it to Canada in the 19th century. Alpine skiing eclipsed cross-country skiing in Canada from the 1940s to 1970s but thanks to the recent fitness boom and the efforts of "Jackrabbit" Johannsen, cross-country skiing is now one of Canada's most popular sports. In the Nordic combined Olympic event, athletes compete in both ski jumping and cross-country skiing. The placings in this first part of the event, ski jumping, determine the order and part time of start in cross-country skiing. The person who wins the second part of the event thus wins the whole competition. One stamp of this se-tenant pair shows a ski jumper against a forest background. The other depicts a cross-country ski racer using the marathon skate, a stride which has been officially approved for use in the 1988 Olympic Winter Games. Pierre-Yves Pelletier of Montreal designed these and the previous stamps in the Calgary Olympic Winter Games series.
Canada Post Corporation. [Postage Stamp Press Release], 1987.
Creators
Designed by Pierre-Yves Pelletier
Note
The values on this page are in Canadian dollars (CAD).