Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Paralympic Star Ellie Simmonds And Natasha Baker Honoured By Royal Mail Stamp

Dressage rider Natasha Baker will be honoured with a special stamp to mark her second win in the Paralympic Games.

Paralympic swimming sensation Ellie Simmonds, from Aldridge, Walsall, will also get an Olympic stamp in celebration of her gold medal triumphs in the 200m Individual Medley and 400m Freestyle.

Miss Baker, from Uxbridge in Middlesex, came first in the Grade II freestyle class on her horse Cabral at Greenwich Park today, breaking a Paralympic record.

simmonds stamp

The triumph came 48 hours after the 22-year-old, who suffers from an inflammation of the spine, was crowned Grade II individual champion, breaking another Paralympic record.

Royal Mail said it was "delighted" to be issuing stamps to recognise Great Britain's Paralympic champions.

It is the first time that a set of stamps has been issued to celebrate Paralympic gold medallists from the host country.

The stamps will go on sale at more than 500 post offices around the UK tomorrow. Uxbridge residents will be able to buy them at the post office in nearby Hayes.

Miss Baker is the third member of ParalympicsGB to appear on two gold medal stamps.

The others are cyclist Sarah Storey, who won gold in the women's C4/5 500m time-trial and 3km individual pursuit, and horse rider Sophie Christiansen, who triumphed in the single Grade 1A and team dressage events.

Before the Olympics Royal Mail said it would not be producing individual stamps for Paralympic gold medallists.

Instead, the firm said it would create a series of six first-class stamps featuring every medallist to be produced after the Paralympic Games finished on 9 September.

But, after issuing 29 gold medal stamps for the Olympics and in the face of criticism on Twitter of its stance on ParalympicGB champions, it did a U-turn saying first-class stamps for individual ParalympicGB gold medal winners would be issued. Team gold medal winners will also be recognised, but featured on stamps as a team.

The stamps will go on sale tomorrow.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/04/simmonds-baker-stamp_n_1853373.html

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