Lithuania returned to the Olympic Games as an independent nation for the first time since 1928 only in 1992 — the 1996 Atlanta issue commemorates the second Games under restored sovereignty, but the emotional weight of the series belongs to Barcelona, where Lithuanian basketball players famously received Grateful Dead-sponsored uniforms after the newly independent federation couldn't fund proper kit. Atlanta was the steadier, better-funded follow-up.
Lithuania returned to the Olympic Games as an independent nation for the first time since 1928 only in 1992 — the 1996 Atlanta issue commemorates the second Games under restored sovereignty, but the emotional weight of the series belongs to Barcelona, where Lithuanian basketball players famously received Grateful Dead-sponsored uniforms after the newly independent federation couldn't fund proper kit. Atlanta was the steadier, better-funded follow-up.