Russian President Vladimir Putin has complained the country's performance at the Olympic Games did not live up to expectations, saying it needs more sports victories to boost patriotism.

"Russian athletes can win gold medals in 20 out of the 37 Olympic sports," Putin said at a meeting of his sports council of top ministers and sports officials on Tuesday. 

"But these high expectations were not confirmed in London." 

Russia ranked fourth in the medals table at the London Olympic Games, bringing home 24 gold medals, mostly in athletics and wrestling, a performance Putin earlier called "an unconditional success". 

However, the country's sports officials have also come under fire in recent years for dismal results at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, and pressure is high to place first at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, an event Putin has spearheaded as a personal prestige project. 

"We all want ... Russia to have big, bright sports victories," said judo black belt Putin, whose sports regime includes daily swimming and regular ice hockey matches with other government officials. 

"We need them to support our people's spirit and patriotic emotions, to boost the country's prestige abroad and to advance the values of an active, healthy lifestyle," he said, according to Interfax news agency. 

"The London results should become a sort of manual for us on what to do. We need to look and analyse how athletes competed, how their training was, and how this affected the results," he said. 

Russia is hosting the 2014 Winter Games in the southern Black Sea resort town of Sochi.

AFP