The awards took place at the Salle Métropole in Lausanne, with IOC members, officials from the Association of National Olympic Committees, International Federations and broadcasters among the attendees.

More than 70 Olympic champions and medallists were part of the near 1,000 guests at the ceremony.

Olympians Kristina Vogel, Darya Domracheva, Abhinav Bindra, Fernando González, Katarina Witt, James Tomkins, Felix Gottwald, Shelley Rudman, Vladislav Tretiak, Kirsty Coventry, Nadia Comaneci and Yuna Kim helped to hand out awards.

The Best Olympic Programme award was presented by IOC President Thomas Bach and Kim to the NBC Sports Group for their coverage of Pyeongchang 2018.

CBC Radio-Canada’s Olympic programme was second, while SBS’s "PyeongChang Tonight"coverage of the day three of the Games placed third.

The prize was one of four gold awards handed to NBC, who will remain a broadcasting rights holder in the United States through to 2032.

NBC were given the gold award in the Best Olympic Feature and Best Olympic Digital Service categories, as well as the Best Documentary Film.

Eurosport and their owners Discovery  also received four awards, with Pyeongchang 2018 having marked their inaugural Winter Olympics as the home of the Games in Europe.

They were awarded the top awards for Best On-Air Promotion and Best Production Design, while the Eurosport Cube was awarded the Best Innovation.

The Cube was considered a first-of-its-kind augmented reality studio featuring the best known and most established winter sports stars.

The company also received gold award for the Best Social Media Content and Production.

Discovery and Eurosport will be Europe’s official Olympic broadcaster through until 2024.

Japanese broadcasters NHK received the top prize in the Best Athlete Profile category, with their focus on the women’s team pursuit speed skating squad.

BBC Sport won the Most Sustainable Operation award for Pyeongchang 2018, while they also claimed the first Youth Olympic Games award for Best Feature.

"Broadcasters of the Olympic Games continue to produce innovative and compelling coverage that allows the athletes’ achievements to live on forever," Bach said.

"As we gather in Lausanne this week to celebrate the inauguration of Olympic House, the 125th anniversary of the IOC and the 134th IOC Session, it is fitting that we honour the broadcasters’ valued contribution in front of the biggest-ever Golden Rings Awards audience."

A total of nine rights-holding broadcasters were awarded gold, silver or bronze trophies following a vote by an international jury.

The jury was led by IOC member Anant Singh, a professional in the film and media industries and chair of the IOC's Communication Commission.

The Olympic Golden Rings were created in 1976 with the aim to promote and recognise excellence in television broadcasting of the Olympic Games.

The contest is organised every two years following the Olympic Games.