ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 27, 2000 -- The Australian postal service issues a commemorative stamp for every Australian athlete who wins a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. And thanks to digital technology from Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX), those stamps can be in collectors' hands by noon the next day. Xerox is printing up to 50,000 sheets of stamps per winner for the Australia Post on fast Xerox DocuColor 40 color copier/printers. Overnight, DocuColor 40 machines around the country produce high-quality, four-color stamps on pre-glued paper. Australia Post staff then distribute them to major postal outlets, and by noon, collectors and consumers can purchase sheets of official 45-cent stamps that document the previous day's gold-medal win. To date, more than 2.2 million stamps have been sold. "It's an Olympic first. Ian Thorpe, the Australian swimming phenomenon, won the 400-meter freestyle event, and the next day, customers snapped up all of the stamps showing this great sporting moment," said Vince Schaeffer, manager, Xerox Olympic Operations. "These are the first digitally printed stamps in the world, and these are the first Olympic stamps to be produced this quickly. Only Xerox digital technology could make it possible." Although the Australia Post has issued commemorative stamps in the past for Australian gold-medalists, this is the first time the winning moment has been captured, printed on demand, and made available to the public within hours. Previous commemorative stamps relied on offset print technology, meaning consumers had to wait for weeks to add to their collections. The Australia Post designed the stamps, in cooperation with various Olympic committees, and provides the official portraits of each athlete. Xerox and its partner, Fuji Xerox, provided DocuColor 40 machines, resources and printing facilities for the Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane postal services. Since Thorpe's victory, Australian gold-medal stamps have been issued for about a dozen individuals and teams, including Cathy Freeman, whose victory in the 400-meter run marked Australia's 100th gold medal in Olympic history; Michael Diamond, the trap shooter; and the Australian women's water polo team. Xerox, which has supported the Olympics every year since 1964, is an Official Olympic Partner for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In addition to printing the stamps, Xerox is producing more than 1,000 CD-ROMs with the results of every race and competition, 50,000 hardcopy Olympics Results Books, and 8,000 copies daily of the "Sydney Extra" Olympics results news supplement for USA TODAY.