From August 28 to September 8, 4,463 athletes representing 170 national Paralympic committees competed in the 17th Summer Paralympic Games held in Paris, the capital of France.
The Latvian team also took part in them, and four athletes won four medals – Diāna Krūmiņa won a gold medal in javelin throwing in athletics, Rihards Snikus won two gold medals in horse riding, taking 1st place in both the individual dressage competition and in the freestyle discipline, while Aigars Apinis received a silver medal discus throwing.
In honor of the sportsmen’s achievements, Latvijas Pasts will issue a block of stamps in 3,500 copies and a specially designed envelope in 500 copies on October 31. The nominal value of each stamp is 2.30 euros, and they are intended for combinations of different tariffs. The design of the philatelic issues was created by the artist Įrts Griva.
The presentation and sealing of stamps and envelopes in honor of the award-winning Latvian athletes of the Paris Paralympic Games will take place on October 31 in the Saeima. It will be attended by Speaker of the Saeima Daiga Mieriņa, Minister of Transport Kaspars Briškens, Head of the Latvian Paralympic Team, Member of the Saeima Zane Skujiņa-Rubene, Board Member of the Latvian Post Pēteris Lauriņš and Chairman of the Sports Subcommittee of the Education, Culture and Science Commission Dāvis Martiņš Daugavietis.
Stamps and envelopes will initially be available for purchase at the Elizabetes iela post office and in the Latvijas Pasta e-store. On the other hand, the first-day stamping of the stamp is scheduled for October 31 at the Elizabetes iela post office, Elizabetes iela 41/43, Riga, from 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.
The Paralympic Games are international competitions for people with functional disabilities. They take place once every four years in the country where the Olympic Games are held that year, and are divided into winter and summer games.
The organizer of the Paralympic Games is the International Paralympic Committee. The first Summer Paralympic Games were held in Rome (Italy) in 1960.
In 2016, Latvijas Pasts issued a block of stamps dedicating it to the Paralympic champions – the Latvian medal winners of the 15th Summer Paralympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro in September 2016 – Diānas Dadzīte, Aigars Apinis and Edgars Bergs.
The next philately issue is planned for November 8.
Philatelic works issued by Latvijas Pasta are highly valued by both customers and philatelic collectors and experts. The international association of collectors of philatelic materials, in accordance with strictly regulated standards, evaluates the stamps issued by Latvijas Pastas as equivalent to the philatelic issues issued by the major countries of the world, and they are regularly included both in the catalogs of globally recognized philatelic issues and in the collections of prestigious collectors.