The celebratory stamps will feature photos of the Team GB athletes in action in their gold medal-winning final, wherever possible, and will go on sale by lunchtime the next day in 500 Post Offices across the UK.

At the same time the Gold Medal stamps will go on sale on the www.royalmail.com website, while a further 4,500 Post Offices nationwide will be issued with the latest Team GB gold medal winners' stamps three times during the Games.

Royal Mail is keeping the specifics of its Olympic print and distribution effort under wraps but it said it would have a team of picture editors, graphic designers and printers on standby throughout the Games.

According to the Royal Mail, this will be the first time any host country has used live action shots for stamps issued the next day and also the first time that the postal operator itself has issued next day stamps.

The stamps, which were officially unveiled on Saturday (7 April) by 1992 Olympic 400m hurdles gold medalist Sally Gunnell OBE, form part of the Royal Mail's special line-up of special products for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which take place from 27 July to 12 August and 29 August to 9 September respectively.

Moya Greene, Royal Mail chief executive, said: "Royal Mail is proud to be involved in this once in a lifetime event and to recognise the success of Team GB.

"Our Gold Medal stamps will be unique souvenirs of the Games, marking the great achievements of our talented athletes. They will be a special way for people across the country to celebrate Team GB’s gold medal wins and help mark their amazing achievement.

"We look forward to issuing many Gold Medal stamps to honour Team GB’s victories."

Royal Mail said that for events where it is not possible to produce a stamp featuring a live action photo from the final, the image will be taken from the gold medal award moment on the podium or from a heat.

All of the Olympic collection series can be purchased from www.royalmail.com/bethefirst.