The medal will be awarded to both Russian and foreign citizens, as well as organisations who "contributed significantly to the preparation and conduct of the Games", with the medal "granted ​​on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation".

The medal will have a circular shape with a diameter of 60 millimetres and be constructed from a yellow metal.

On the front the inscription "sochi.ru" will be affixed horizontally against the background of a relief image of mountains, and under it will be the year of the Olympics, 2014, alongside the five Olympic Rings.

At the bottom of the coin will be the shadow of the mountains as a background for the repeated inscription "sochi.ru" and the digits 2014, next to which there are three Agitos to symbolise the Paralympic Movement.

The inscriptions "XXII Olympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi " and "XI Paralympic Games in Sochi in 2014" are arranged around the circumference of the coin.

On the reverse side will be an image of a bowl with a burning Olympic Flame while around the circumference in the upper right part is the inscription: "from the President of the Russian Federation", adjacent to an image of the Fischt Olympic Stadium where the Opening and Closing Ceremonies were held for each Games.

Putin also declared that a single company will be employed to produce the medals, as well as their cases and forms of diplomas allocated.

The announcement marks the latest collectors item to emerge from Sochi 2014, and is also building upon the results of a survey earlier this month claiming 84 per cent of Russian people were proud of staging Sochi 2014. 

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