Exactly 110 years ago the French sportsman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin circularised the sporting authorities of the world, advocating the revival of the Olympic Games which had been the chief sporting event in the ancient world.

A festival, both religious and athletic, was established at Olympia in the western Peloponnese in 776 BC, the date at which Greek chronology (which went in Olympiads or four-year periods) commenced. Athletes from the Greek city states met under sacred truce to compete in such events as the pentathlon (leaping, quoit-throwing, javelin throwing, running and wrestling). Eventually the Games embraced the Macedonian and Roman empires, and both Philip of Macedon and Nero competed. The Games were suppressed in AD 394 by the Emperor Theodosius the Great because their pagan overtones offended his Christian ethics.

Coubertin deliberately chose the 1500th anniversary of this Christian edict to revive the Games and to emphasise the continuity with the past he recommended that Greece should have the honour of hosting the first Games of the modern series and this duly took place in Athens in 1896.

Considering that commemorative stamps had only been in existence for less than a decade, Greece went overboard with a series of 12 stamps, ranging from 1 lepton to 10 drachmae, depicting scenes from the classical Games. After this spectacular (and very expensive start) Olympic philately languished for several years. The second Games took place at Paris in 1900 but was completely overshadowed by the Universal Exposition that year. No stamps marked that great world fair but many hundreds of labels were produced, although none appeared in connection with the Olympics which seem to have been regarded as something of a sideshow.

Similarly the Games of 1904 (St Louis, Missouri) were overshadowed by the World's Fair celebrating the centenary of the Louisiana Purchase, and like Paris four years earlier none of the vast outpourings of souvenir labels referred to the sporting event. In 1908 London hosted the Franco-British Exhibition at White City and the Olympic Games formed an integral part. As before, a vast number of labels and even postmarks were produced for the Exhibition, but on this occasion, there was also a set of eight pertaining to the Games. Attractive poster stamps appeared in 1912 for the Stockholm Games, a series of 16 in different languages and a single label for the torch run from Austria to Sweden.

If the official Games from 1900 to 1912 were ignored by the respective postal administrations, we should not overlook the outpouring from Greece itself which staged a second Olympic event at Athens ten years after the first and produced a handsome set of 14, from 1 lepton to 5 drachmae, again drawing heavily on scenes from the classical period.

The Games of the fifth Olympiad, scheduled to take place at Berlin 1916, were cancelled on account of World War I, so it was not until 1920 that the Games were revived. On this occasion they were held in Antwerp and Belgium produced a set of three, likewise inspired by the ancient sports. These stamps were the first to include a charity premium, and they were re-issued a year later, surcharged as 20c stamps, with the charity premium obliterated.

The Games returned to Paris in 1924 and on this occasion a set of four was released. While there was still a nod at the ancient Games, with a laureated victor and the statue of Milo of Croton, national pride ensured that such landmarks as the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame should also be included. This Olympiad was memorable as the first time that stamps were issued by a country other than the host nation, indeed, the first stamps to be produced after the event to celebrate a national victory. On 29 July Uruguay, whose team took the soccer gold medal, issued a set of three to mark this triumph and appropriately featured the headless Victory of Samothrace in the Louvre. Apart from two printings in slightly different colours, there was a special printing on yellow paper for presentation to government officials and the players of course.

In 1928 the Games moved to Amsterdam, provoking a set of eight charity stamps from the Netherlands. For the first time, stamps abandoned the classical idiom and concentrated on various events, from sculling and football to show-jumping and boxing. Once more, Uruguay scooped the gold medal in the soccer event and in due course released a set of three showing garlanded goalposts.

Portugal became the first country to issue a stamp in advance of the Games. Use of this 15c stamp was obligatory, with the aim of raising funds in support of Portuguese athletes taking part, and featured a hurdler with the word AMSTERDAO across the foot. There was even a 30c postage due label with the same inscription, for use on mail which did not bear the compulsory tax stamp and was therefore surcharged at double the rate.

After this flurry of philatelic activity, the 1932 Games, held in the USA, yielded only three stamps. One of these, however, was issued in January for the Winter Games at Lake Placid and featured a skier, while two stamps marked the Summer Games at Los Angeles. One showed a sprinter on the starting block, but the 5c stamp, intended for overseas mail, showed a Greek sculpture of a discus-thrower.

This established the precedent followed by Germany four years later, a set of three marking the Winter Games at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, followed by a set of eight, a booklet and two matching miniature sheets for the Summer events in Berlin. These stamps bore charity premiums (a feature of most special issues in Nazi Germany).

By this time, however, the trickle of ancillary material, such as postcards, souvenir covers and pictorial postmarks, had become a torrent. Indeed, the late Francesca Rapkin, who started out to form a collection of the stamps of the world issued in the year of her birth, got stuck at the 1936 Olympic Games and eventually formed a gold medal collection devoted to this topic alone.

The Games of the next Olympiad had the doubtful distinction of being cancelled not once but twice. Tokyo was the original venue for the 1940 Games but this was cancelled on account of the outbreak of war with China, and as a result the event was rescheduled to take place in Helsinki, but this, too, was cancelled when World War II erupted. Much sought after nowadays are examples of the slogan postmarks with the Olympic rings used in Finland as advance publicity for the Games that never were.

With the world war at its height. no Games were scheduled for 1944, but paradoxically there were Olympic stamps that year, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the modern Olympic movement. There is some poignancy in the fact that the stamps were actually produced by Polish officers incarcerated in Oflag II-D for use in an internal camp postal service. The stamps were engraved on wood blocks and printed one at a time. Not surprisingly, examples are extremely elusive.

The first of the postwar Games were held in London in 1948 and yielded a set of four stamps with appropriate Olympic symbolism. In addition there was an Olympic aerogramme and a number of special postmarks and meter marks associated with the event. This was also the first time that Olympic stamps of one country were overprinted for use elsewhere, the set being surcharged for use in Bahrain and Kuwait whose postal services were then operated by Britain.

Another precedent was set when Melbourne hosted the 16th Olympiad in 1956 and released 2s stamps in blue (1954) or green (1955) as advance publicity. Roundly condemned as wildly excessive at the time, it would set an example for all future Games, so much so that as soon as the host city is announced for Games four years ahead the round of advance publicity stamps begins.

By the time of the 1960 Games in Rome the notion of stamps from countries other than the host nation was well established. Indeed, at that time stamps from non-participating countries were also being produced, as wily entrepreneurs woke up to the fact that Olympic philately was one of the most popular themes. In 1996 the centennial of the modern Olympics unleashed a deluge of stamps from countries which had never had the remotest connection with the Games but which jumped on the bandwagon with lengthy sets illustrating the history of the event.

The Sydney Games of 2000 gave us the first instant stamps; within 24 four hours stamps portraying the Australian gold medallists were on sale in their home states, thanks to the miracle of the Internet and advanced electronic computerised printing processes.

Within the past decade we have also had not just advance publicity issues but sets of stamps and postal stationery to publicise the various bids to host future Olympics. Greece did this a few years ago when bidding for the Centenary Games that were ultimately awarded to Atlanta, Georgia, but now the wheel has come full circle with the Athens Games this year. With several advance issues showing the Games mascots, Athena and Phebus, as well as several sets devoted to the sporting events, collectors are now bracing themselves for the plethora of stamps, miniature sheets, booklets, postal stationery and souvenir postmarks from all around the world marking the event itself