Rio 2016 sticker album launched

The official illustrated sticker album for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games was launched on Wednesday (25 May) at a star-studded ceremony at the city's glitzy horse-racing track. The album and stickers will go on sale in Brazil on Friday (3 June).

They proved an instant hit with athletes who are among the collection. The cover of the album features Paralympic swimming sensation Daniel Dias, basketball player Anderson Varejão of NBA team the Golden State Warriors and women's football star Marta.

To complete the 56 pages of the album, collectors will have to hunt down a total of 374 stickers. The majority of the stickers are of Brazilian athletes who will be competing at Rio 2016, plus other Brazilians who made their mark at previous Games.

Mascots Tom and Vinicius debut Lego look for Rio 2016.

The Rio 2016 organising committee has produced the album in partnership with Italian publishing group Panini. The publishers expect to sell more than a million copies across Brazil.

Stickers and stories

There is much more to the album than just stickers of Brazilian athletes. The album also covers the story of the Games from their birth in ancient Greece, their revival at Athens 1896, the start of the Paralympic Games at Rome 1960 up to the first Games to be held in South America, in just over two months' time. Within its pages, Rio 2016 mascots Vinicius and Tom share the limelight with Moscow 1980 counterpart Misha the bear and a series of today's interrnational stars, such as Usain Bolt, Lebron James and Novak Djokovic.

The album also includes a handy map and guide to the competition venues for Rio 2016.

A small group of lucky children were invited to the launch and immediately set about filling in their albums and swapping stickers. "I really want Neymar," eight-year-old Pedro Toledo said. "I think it's going to be one of hardest to find stickers."