Sally Munday, the current chief executive England and GB Hockey, has been appointed CEO of UK Sport.

She joins the nation’s high-performance sports agency after having overseen a golden era for the sport of hockey.

During her tenure, Team GB women secured their first ever Olympic title at the Rio 2016 Games, while the men’s team finished fourth at London 2012, their best Olympic Games finish in a quarter of a century.

She has also been accredited with the successful hosting of the Women’s Hockey World Cup in London in 2018 and a huge increase in participation in the sport since London 2012.

“Sally Munday is a wonderful successor to Liz Nicholl as CEO of UK Sport, as we embark on our ambitious new strategy for high-performance sport in the UK," said Dame Katherine Grainger, chair of UK Sport.

“Sally has led a sport that’s not only excelled on and off the field of play at elite and grassroots level but also delivered an impact both domestically and internationally. Her expertise and strong leadership will be invaluable as well as her passion and vision."

Munday, who was awarded an MBE for services to hockey in 2013, said: “The past decade has been such a successful period for Olympic and Paralympic sport in this country and I'm absolutely delighted to be given the opportunity to lead UK Sport and follow in the footsteps of Liz Nicholl.

“I know from personal experience that the UK Sport team have played such a key role in supporting the National Governing Bodies and their athletes in what has been an unprecedented period of success both in terms of medals and bringing major sporting events to this country.

“I am extremely excited to join UK Sport at this particular time, not only in the lead into Tokyo 2020 but also the opportunity to implement the new UK Sport strategy leading to Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024.

"I love the ambition of the new strategy; both in continuing to support our athletes to light up the stage to make our nation proud, but also realising the social and community impact that is possible through our Olympic and Paralympic role models and the work that they and our National Governing Bodies can do.”

Munday will take up her role in the autumn. The current UK Sport CEO, Liz Nicholl, will depart in July and a member of the UK Sport team will be appointed to oversee the organisation in the interim.