The year 1996 marked the centennial of the Olympic Games. These Games took place in Atlanta during the months of July and August this year. In celebration of this big international event and in promotion of this government's effort to encourage all residents to exercise regularly, this Directorate used sports games, both past and present, as the design for a set of two stamps issued on June 22, 1996.　　The International Olympic Committee was founded in Paris in 1894, and the first Olympic Games was held in Athens in 1896. Throughout the past 100 years, the Games have integrated sport with culture and education by bringing together athletes from across the world to show, by means of fair competition,"strength" and "beauty". They have also helped to promote harmonious development of the international community and to build a peaceful and beautiful world.