Olympic gold medalist Tom Ashley becomes new Canoe Racing New Zealand boss

Tom Ashley won the gold medal in the men's sailboard event at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Photo / Janna Dixon

Former Olympic champion windsurfer Tom Ashley is the new chief executive of Canoe Racing New Zealand.

Ashley, who won gold in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, takes over from Mark Weatherall, who completed a four-year shift in the role.

Ashley has spent the last nine years working as an Olympic programme consultant and specialist planning adviser for Yachting New Zealand and the New Zealand Academy of Sport, and graduated as a lawyer. For the last four years he has run China's Olympic windsurfing programme.

"CRNZ's programme has been gaining momentum over the last few years under Mark's leadership and there is currently a group of really strong athletes and coaches," Ashley said.

"I'll face two exciting challenges in this role - the first will be to continue to support the current team and make sure they get what they need to achieve their goals in Tokyo 2020 and the second will be to find ways to build on the current momentum to inspire a new generation of paddlers into the sport."

New Zealand enjoyed a successful last year, including winning four medals at the world championships, including two golds, maiden world under 23 titles to Aimee Fisher in the K1 200m and 500m, plus two Olympic medals for Lisa Carrington at the Rio Olympics.

Ashley starts his job in February.

One of his first tasks will be overseeing the CRNZ move to a new high performance base at Lake Karapiro. Work has recently been completed and canoeing will move in alongside Rowing New Zealand.