Designed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the pins are being given to medal-wining Paralympic athletes at Games from Sochi onwards.

The guides of visually impaired athletes will also be awarded them.

Alpine skier Akira Kano, the winner of the men's downhill and super-G sitting events, and Takeshi Suzuki, the slalom gold and downhill sitting bronze medallist, have been awarded their pin badges.

Taiki Morii, the super-G sitting silver medallist and Kozo Kubo, the 7.5 kilometre biathlon sitting bronze medallist, have also been presented with them.

"It's a great honour to be awarded these unique pins from the IPC and we are very proud of this," said the four medallists who helped Japan to seventh in the Sochi 2014 Paralympic medals table.

The pins will be awarded to every Sochi 2014 medallist and will become a mainstay of future Paralympic Games ©IPC



A total of 182 athletes and guides will receive one of the pins, which are coloured gold, silver and bronze, with a total of 363 to be given out.

The pins carry the official typeface of the Sochi 2014 Games and were designed in consultation with the IPC Athletes' Council.

The idea of the pin badges was proposed and ratified by the IPC at the General Assembly in Athens last November. 

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