The appointment, which follows the company's €1.3 billion (£965 million/$1.5 billion) deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to broadcast the Summer and Winter Games until 2024, is a sign of the company's growing interest on the Olympic stage.

Hillier takes up his new role after six years at Weber Shandwick, where he served as consultant and senior press officer for the successful Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid.

This included the planning and management of the international media launch in London and on-the-ground press office management and media relations at the IOC Evaluation Commission visit to the Japanese capital in 2013.

He then played a similar role as communications advisor to the successful Beijing 2022 Winter bid last year, including at the decisive IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur where the Chinese capital defeated Kazakhstan rival Almaty by four votes.

The Briton also spent four years as a lead consultant with the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee, where he focused on issues management counsel and sport, business and social media before spending eight weeks in the Russian coastal resort during the Games.

Before joining Weber Shandwick, Hillier worked for Vero Communications, achieving his first Olympic bidding success with Rio 2016 while also helping the International Rugby Board on their successful campaign for the inclusion of rugby sevens on the Olympic programme.

He will be based in Paris for his new role, where he will work under former Weber Shandwick colleague Fiona McLachlan, who is now vice-president of communications at Eurosport.

“Eurosport is undergoing a rapid transformation and I am excited to join the team that is helping to tell our story," Hillier told insidethegames.

"There are many great opportunities for Eurosport to fuel fans’ passion and connect them with the sports they love.”

Through parent company Discovery Communications, Eurosport have rights for the Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics, as well as Beijing 2022 and the yet-to-be-awarded 2024 Games in every European territory except for Russia.

They are also sub-licencing a portion of the rights in "many markets across Europe".

Eurosport and Discovery are also expected to play a role in the new Olympic TV Channel, which is set to be launched at some stage after Rio 2016.