Palmer, who announced she would be standing down as chief executive of Netball Australia on December 23 earlier this month, will officially take up the position on January 30.

Hollingsworth had held the role for five years before he resigned earlier this year.

His decision followed Australia claiming their worst Olympic haul in 24 years at Rio 2016, where they won 29 medals, eight of which were gold.

Their performance saw them finish 10^th on the medals table.

However, Hollingsworth claimed that he made the decision to quit prior to August’s Games.

“This is my dream job," Palmer, Netball Australia’s chief executive since 2006, said.

“I am passionate about sport and want to help sport grow and succeed in this country, both in terms of participation and elite performance.

“I am excited about the challenge of improving Australia’s competitiveness at the highest levels of world sport.

“We have a lot of strengths to build on in the Australian sporting system, but we also need to look very hard at what we can do better for the future.”

John Wylie, the chairman of the ASC – Australia’s high-performance sports agency – believes there is “no doubt” Palmer is the right person to “lead our mission”.

“The ASC chief executive is the pre-eminent leadership role in Australian sport,” Wylie said.

“It offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of sport in Australia at the elite international and grassroots levels and have real impact on sporting outcomes for all Australians.

“This is an important time in Australian sport and the ASC Board has no doubt that Kate is the right person to lead our mission, which is to ensure Australia remains a sporting and healthy nation that can both achieve success at the highest levels of international sport and thrive in our community participation.

“Kate has done an exceptional job over the past decade in her role as chief executive of Netball Australia, leading the largest female participation sport in Australia and tripling revenue in the past seven years.

“She has created high performing organisations which have excelled in high performance and growing community participation, with good governance and people management.

“She has a successful track record of leading transformative organisational change.”

During her tenure at Netball Australia, Palmer oversaw a rapid growth in the development of the sport in Australia, including a rise in revenue form AUD$6 million (£3.5 million/$4.5 million/€4.2 million) to AUD$26 million (£15.2 million/$19.4 million/€18.2 million).