On May 2, 2019, German Post issued a series of postage stamps titled "Legendary Olympic Moments."

Stamps dedicated to the Olympic Games are common, but the new issue of German stamps is interesting because it celebrates not just the Olympic Games, but specific athletes' performances, which became widely known thanks to the media coverage.

Show jumper Hans Günther Winkler, skier Johan Behle, and swimmer Michael Gross are the subjects of this series of postage stamps. Each stamp, in addition to an illustration, features a sports commentator's catchphrase, which has become a catchphrase: "And Halla laughs," "Where is Behle," and "Fly, albatross, fly."

The legendary moment on the first stamp is the performance of renowned show jumper Hans Günther Winkler on the mare Halle at the 1956 Stockholm Olympics. During the first round, Winkler injured his groin muscle after jumping a fence unsuccessfully. The injury was serious, and the athlete faced a difficult choice: retire or remain in the saddle. Had Winkler withdrawn, the German show jumping team would also have been excluded from the Olympic Games. Despite severe pain in the torn muscle, the athlete decided to continue competing.

Sports journalist Hans-Heinrich Isenbart commented on Winkler's performance. He suspected the athlete's condition, as he was struggling to stay in the saddle, but he nonetheless hoped that Winkler's experience and the remarkable rapport he had developed with his faithful horse, Halla, would help him overcome the challenge. Isenbart believed in the successful partnership between horse and rider. He described Halla as a horse that playfully navigates any distance and jumps as if by her own will, seeming to laugh as she clears each obstacle.

And the journalist was right: Halla jumped the entire course without any penalties, and the courageous athlete was rewarded with gold medals in both the individual and team events.

During his athletic career, Hans Günther Winkler competed in six Olympic Games and returned with five gold medals, while Halla earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the winner of three Olympic gold medals.

Hans Winkler himself was aware of the planned postage stamp issue in his honor, but unfortunately, he did not see its release – the athlete died in July 2018 at the age of 90.

The stamps in this series were released as part of the traditional "For Sport" ("Für den Sport") issue and, in addition to their face value, include a surcharge of €0.30, €0.40, and €0.55 for the Deutsche Sporthilfe foundation.

Deutsche Sporthilfe is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1967 whose primary goal is to financially support promising athletes, from young athletes just beginning their careers to established champions.

Since 1968, Deutsche Post has regularly issued sports-themed postage stamps with a surcharge for Deutsche Sporthilfe. According to Michel Ilgner, a representative of the foundation, who attended the presentation last year, approximately €800,000 was raised from the sale of the stamps. Over the more than 50 years of cooperation with Deutsche Post, more than €136 million has been raised for the foundation supporting German sports.