During his 20 years at the helm of the performance programme, Anderson has led British Canoeing through an unprecedented period of success at world, Olympic and latterly Paralympic level.

This culminated in their most successful ever Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro last year, when Britain won four medals, two golds and two silvers.

They then went onto win five medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, three golds and two bronzes, as Para-canoe made its debut on the Games programme.

Anderson has acted as team leader for the British Canoeing Olympic programme at five successive Games, dating back to Sydney 2000.

This contribution places him as one of the longest-serving performance director’s in the history of the UK sporting environment, during which time he has worked closely with British athletes and coaches to achieve 16 Olympic canoeing medals.

This includes one gold at Beijing 2008, two at London 2012 and the two at Rio 2016.

It is anticipated that the performance director position will be advertised shortly and once a successor is in place, Anderson will leave the organisation to pursue other business interests, including executive coaching.

"Joining British Canoeing as performance director in 1998 was my dream job, being involved in five successful Olympic cycles, culminating in our best Games ever in Rio, gives me an enormous sense of pride, as I reflect on what the athletes, coaches and support staff have achieved for our sport," Anderson said.

"It has been a privilege for me to work with such a talented group of athletes and coaches, but now it is the right time to hand over to a successor to take the sport on to even more success in the future.

"To achieve consistent success in both Olympic disciplines, winning 16 Olympic medals split equally between sprint and slalom with continuous improvement each cycle is something that British Canoeing should be proud of.

"However, I’m confident that both Olympic and Paralympic programmes can continue to make those incremental steps forward to Tokyo 2020 and beyond.

"Winning nine medals in Rio, alongside Germany, is a phenomenal achievement for the athletes and for our sport, but I would like canoeing to step up again and make even further progress.

"I have always had a real passion for the sport and wanting to see us be right up there, not only as a leading canoeing nation, but amongst the top few sports in the UK at Olympic and world level, has been the driver for me.

"Without doubt the most enjoyable part has been working with some exceptionally talented athletes and coaches and also the huge number of clubs and volunteers that make the high-performance programme possible."

Anderson joined British Canoeing as performance director in 1998 after 23 years in the Royal Air Force, where he was a physical education officer and training manager, specialising in personal development training in the outdoor education environment.

He was awarded a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for outstanding work in these areas in 1991.

The newly-created position of performance director enabled Anderson to build on the work he had undertaken on a voluntary basis as the Great Britain national team coach between 1989 and 1997.

Prior to his appointment, Britain had previously won only one Olympic medal in canoeing in the entire history of the Games.

On taking up his new post, Anderson wrote the first-ever canoeing performance plan for Lottery funding, leading, directing and driving the transformation of the sport from a voluntary structure to a high-performance programme.

Under his leadership, athletes supported by British Canoeing have gone on to win European and world titles and World Cup, European and World Championship medals in both Olympic disciplines - canoe sprint and canoe slalom.

Britain is recognised as one of a few dominant nations in international canoeing and British Canoeing claims the structure is now in place for this to continue for many years to come through a "first-class" talent development programme.

In 2011, Anderson established the first-ever GB Para-canoe programme, building a coaching and support team and introducing talent identification initiatives to identify and develop Para-canoe athletes capable of success at Rio 2016.

He has also played a part in mentoring fellow performance directors in his role as a founder member and chair of the UK Olympic and Paralympic Performance Director's Forum, a position he has held since 2010.

Furthermore, the Scot has overseen the development of the Lee Valley White Water Centre as the venue for the London 2012 Olympics, as well as the establishment of a state-of-the-art performance centre on the site and the hosting of a home World Championships in 2015.

"John Anderson has demonstrated passion, dedication and exemplary service to the sport of canoeing from his earliest days as an inspirational athlete, through to his current role as the leader  and engineer of the sustained growth and success of canoeing in the UK and on the world and Olympic stage," David Joy, chief executive of British Canoeing, said.

"John has been a leader on the international canoeing landscape for many years, representing Great Britain during important working groups planning the future direction of the sport and he is extremely well respected by his international peers.

"Whilst at home, he is similarly held in high regard by his UK counterparts, with his efforts to share best practice between Olympic high-performance programmes demonstrating John’s steadfast commitment and service to UK elite sport.

"On behalf of British Canoeing I would like to thank him for the outstanding contribution he has made to our sport and we wish him all the very best for the future.

"He will be a hard act to follow, but he has certainly left a strong platform for his successor to build on, going forwards to Tokyo 2020 and beyond."