Gaudoin becomes the latest high-profile resignation from Hockey Australia and leaves the troubled organisation needing to find a new women’s national team coach with little more than four months to go before this year’s  Olympics Games are due to start.

His departures comes in the wake of a damning independent review which found the women’s national programme was "dysfunctional" and "not conducive to athlete well-bring or sustained on-field success".

Matt Favier, chief executive of Hockey Australia, said Gaudoin had conducted himself with "integrity", "devotion" and "commitment to the cause" during his five years in charge of the team, despite the coach seeing fit to resign.

"In light of the release of the findings and recommendations from the independent review that has been undertaken, Paul informed Hockey Australia that he has decided to stand down from the role," said Matt Favier, chief executive of Hockey Australia.

"The past 12 months have been a difficult and taxing time for everyone involved in the High Performance program and especially the coaching staff.

"They have had to navigate the uncertainty of COVID while being an assuring and supportive presence for players, which Paul has done."

Toni Cumpston stepped down as Hockey Australia high-performance director in January, claiming their position was "untenable to continue in the present circumstances".

Hockeyroos assistant coach Steph Andrew departed a month later while several staff and directors have also exited.

The exodus comes after an independent inquiry into allegations of a toxic culture within women's hockey in Australia was launched in December last year by the governing body.

There were also individual complaints of bullying, body-shaming, the development of serious eating disorders and unfair team selections in the women's programme.

Hockey Australia has now released the findings of the review which interviewed more than 100 people.

"Broadly the review found a dysfunctional culture within the national women’s high performance programme that is not conducive to athlete wellbeing or success, and identified numerous areas for improvement," a statement from Hockey Australia read.

"This outcome has been confronting and distressing for Hockey Australia, its management, board, athletes and staff.

"While we have made a considerable investment over the last three years, including efforts to implement changes since the Rio cycle, this has not been enough to prevent rupturing of the squad’s cohesion, particularly with the uncertainty rendered by COVID-19 and the delay of the Tokyo Olympics.

"The process of this review has seen us all have significant reflections over the past months. 

"The findings have been shared with the players and we will work with them to make changes to design and implement a cultural transformation programme."

A total of 29 recommendations were identified by the review panel, outlining areas to help Hockey Australia clean up its act.

They included the "need to ensure an effective leadership model", ensuring engagement at every level within the organisation is "safe and respectful", keeping track of the culture in both men’s and women’s hockey and "embedding a culture of mutual respect and trust between all participants" in the delivery of the high-performance programme.

Hockey Australia said it intended to "fast track our action plan" with Tokyo 2020 on the horizon.

"We believe most people who participated in the review want the Hockeyroos to succeed and we want to work with our athletes and staff to create a positive culture and go on to even high levels of excellence in the sport that they love," the statement added.

"Change is needed and is already underway.

"Importantly, this is a collaborative effort and requires buy-in from everyone.

"This has been challenging period but undertaking the review has been crucial in addressing the allegations that have been directed at the Hockeyroos programme since the Rio Olympics.

"We are appreciative of those who came forward to be interviewed and have full trust and confidence in the findings and recommendations put forward by the review panel."

Gaudoin, who had steered the Hockeyroos to second position in the world rankings, said he was "disappointed" not to be leading the team at Tokyo 2020.

Ric Charlesworth is now being tipped to replace Gaudoin, although the suggestion has reportedly caused anger within the squad.

Charlesworth coached the women’s team between 1993 and 2000, helping them to clinch gold at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.

But current players are understood to be unhappy with Charlesworth following an interview where he claimed he encountered "loud voices that do not reflect the team's will or wishes" during his seven-year reign.