The 67-year-old Hickey worked as 15 years for the ABAE as the director of coaching before leaving after the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

But he has been lured back by Derek Mapp, the chairman of the recently reconstituted British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA), the umbrella group for the ABAs of England, Scotland and Wales that runs the Olympic programme.

Hickey is expected to begin his new role officially on January 1, 2009.

He said: "Once you have the passion, it's in your system and the opportunity with a Games in Britain is unique.

"Whatever I could have done for 2012, even attending the car park ... but this is like being a kid in a sweet shop."

Since leaving the ABAE he has worked for the British Olympic Association as a technical adviser and as a consultant for a number of organisations across the world.

He has most recently being working with the Northwest Development Agency to attract Olympic teams to training camps in Britain in 2012.

Hickey will take over a sport which should be riding high after its most successful Olympic performance for half-a-century, winning a gold and two bronze medals, but instead is dogged by political problems and rows involving its successful Beijing medallists.

These include James DeGale, who won the welterweight title in Beijing, and Tony Jeffries, the bronze medallist in the light-heavyweight category, who are threatening to sue the ABAE over what they claimed are unpaid bonuses.

Both have since turned professional along with Frankie Gavin, the world amateur champion who missed Beijing after failing to make the weight.

Terry Edwards, the coach who guided Britain's boxing team to their most successful Olympic performance since Melbourne in 1956, has also warned that he will seek damages unless the ABAE chief executive, Paul King, retracts comments made in a radio interview that claimed he had been informed by letter before the Games that the medal bonus scheme had been withdrawn.

Hickey is Mapp's second choice for the role, having been turned down by Gary Keegan, the performance director of Ireland who oversaw their fine performance in Beijing, where they won three medals, a silver and two bronze.

But Hickey's appointment must cast even further doubt over whether Edwards will continue to have a role in the build-up to London 2012.

Hickey knows that he must deliver even better performance in London than in Beijing and he will be relying on the likes of Campbell, a 21-year-old from Hull who last month became Britain's first European amateur champion for 47 years when he won the bantamweight title in Liverpool.

Hickey said: “Expectations will be higher and it's for me to develop a team capable of delivering what is needed.

"With each Games, the bar gets higher."