OCI New appointment: Former Irish hockey captain and British Olympic gold medallist Stephen Martin is to become the first ever chief executive of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI).

Martin, who is currently deputy chief executive of the British Olympic Association (BOA) and head of their performance unit, covering athletic services, the Olympic Medal Institute and Technical Department, will leave his current position on December 16th and take up the Irish job on January 1st .

A key member of the team that spearheaded Britain's drive for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Martin was also Team GB Deputy Chef de Mission at the 2000 Salt Lake City and 2004 Athens Games.

"The past seven years have been a remarkable success story; the development of a high performance system, improved performance levels and the opportunity to host the 2012 Olympic Games in London," he said yesterday.

"I am now looking forward to the opportunity of working to develop a world class high performance system for Irish sport in order to maximise the potential for Irish athletes and prepare them for the unique challenges of competing at the Olympic Games.

"I'll have to assess where we are at in Ireland. Those for the 2008 games are well in the system and there are only a couple of years to go. What the OCI will also look at is 2012. There is a real opportunity to look at the sports and see where there has been traditional talent and see if we can step it up to the podium."

Martin was one of the outstanding players in Irish hockey and one of the first to apply a professional approach to the game in the early 1980s. That paid off and as an 18-year-old he was picked to take part in his first Irish senior squad, having played for Ireland at both schools and under-21 level. He was part of the most successful Irish under-21 side that won the silver medal in the 1978 European Championships held in Dublin.

From there he went on to become captain of the Irish team on more than 30 occasions, winning 135 Irish caps in a long distinguished career.

In those days it was also permissible to play for Britain as well as Ireland (the rule has since changed and players must now chose one team or the other) and several Ulster players were good enough to be selected.

Again Martin made the cut and went on to play in three Olympic games - Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992. In total he played 94 times for the British team during its golden years and won an Olympic bronze medal in LA along with Ireland's Billy McConnell and a gold medal in Seoul alongside Irish colleague Jimmy Kirkwood. He also played in a World Cup and three European Championships with Ireland for a career total of 229 international matches.

By any standards his success off the pitch has been extraordinary. The Bangor Grammar educated player went to Jordanstown for a sports-related third level degree and from there worked with the NI Sports Council before settling with the BOA, commuting between London and Belfast for the past seven years. He has since earned a doctorate and was awarded an MBE.

"It is a new challenge for me," he said. "Obviously I have got to get used to a whole new set of circumstances and people but I am looking forward to it. I've been here with the BOA for seven years and it has been a really good environment leading up to winning the rights to host the games in 2012.

"Now it is up to me and my counterparts in the governing bodies to get together and put a business plan together in Ireland in terms of developing a high performance system and trying to get more athletes to the podium. Dublin has changed a lot over the last 10 years and It's going to be exciting for me to come back and work there."

Martin will work closely with his new boss, OCI President Pat Hickey, who is highly regarded within the international Olympic movement. But his main concern will be to bring a cutting edge professionalism to the administrative side of the organisation and to use his experience and contacts at international level to help move Olympic sport on to a new footing.

His responsibilities in the BOA cover a wide range of issues including service provision to Olympic athletes, team leaders and support staff in relation to operational planning for Olympic competition.

"My role will essentially be the same role as I've played here (BOA) and that is to work with key agencies and see what fits best for Irish sport," he says.

His family live in Holywood, just outside Belfast but it is expected that he will also arrange to live part-time in Dublin.