Officials revealed the 19-by-9 metre coloured rings - making them slightly larger than the ones that decorated London's Tower Bridge during the 2012 Summer Games - at a site opposite Sochi International Airport.

Lit by searchlights so they can be easily seen at night, the giant metal construction of the five interlaced rings, the official emblem of the modern Olympic Games, will become a "visual greeting" for guests arriving at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games host city.

The rings express the activity of the Olympic Movement, representing the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympics, and by tradition, appear in every Games host city before the competition.

As well as at Tower Bridge, giant Olympic rings illuminated the White Cliffs of Dover for London 2012, while at Vancouver 2010 a set of rings was placed in the Canadian bay of Coal Harbour, and at Beijing 2008 they decorated the Great Wall of China.

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