New Zealand's Valerie Adams takes a selfie with USA's gold medal winner Michelle Carter (L) and Anita Marton during the medal ceremony for the women's shot put.

Olympics athletics officials have defended Games attendances after Valerie Adams received her shot put medal in front of embarrassingly empty seats.

A day after dipping out to American Michelle Carter in a last shot shootout, Adams, the 2008 and 2012 gold medallist, was awarded her 2016 silver medal on Sunday (NZ time).

But the ceremony came as the high-profile athletics programme continued the Brazilian indifference to large parts of these Games compared to London's extraordinary attendances across virtually all sports four years ago.

PHOTOSPORT Valerie Adams congratulates USA's Michelle Carter on her gold medal during the medal ceremony for the women's shot put.

The 47,000 seat athletics venue in Rio was far from full and the ceremony seemed an age away from the tension-packed final a day earlier.

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﻿The ceremony drew attention because of the historic nature with Carter the first American woman thrower to win the Olympics title.

Yannis Nikolaou, the communications manager for the International Association of Athletics Federations, felt Olympics fans needed to recognise that while Brazil enjoyed a sporting culture it had different interests and they had to be appreciated with the Olympics making their South American debut in Rio.

"'It is a different country and a different culture. Here it is football. But it was different this morning – we were celebrating and it was packed," he told the Daily Mail.

"It is not empty, it looks like 30,000 people from here. It is not fair to compare with London, they are different cities, in the UK there is a strong track and field tradition."

PHOTOSPORT Valerie Adams proudly displays the New Zealand flag, before a sparse crowd and swathes of blue seats.

Nikolaou's defence couldn't hide the large numbers of blue seats that dominated images.

But he believed the Olympics needed to be moved around as attendances continue to dog Rio many of Rio's venues.

"But we cannot have the Olympics in Europe all the time, we have to take them to different countries, to develop and expand.

MARTY MELVILLE/PHOTOSPORT Valerie Adams poses with a New Zealand flag during the medal ceremony for the women's shot put.

"It is not a fair comparison with Brazil because the people here do not have the salaries of the British citizens or Americans.

"You have to understand we are in Brazil, it is football, volleyball and basketball.

"It's a sports country and its football and team sports. It is not fair to compare it with London."

FABRIZIO BENSCH Empty seats have been a persistent problem at the Rio, as seen in this picture from earlier in the Olympic Games.

Adams is no stranger to controversial medal ceremonies.

In London she was awarded sliver only to discover that Nadzeya Ostapchuk had tested positive for doping and the Belarusian was subsequently stripped of the gold. Adams was awarded the gold in a special ceremony in Auckland a month later.

Athletics and Olympics officials will be hoping the appearance of Usain Boult on the track on Monday (NZ time) will see the venue full.

REUTERS Valerie Adams poses with the silver medal.

Boult has been heading a tickets drive for the athletics programme with TV and online campaigns.