Nicholl was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, the sixth of seven children. Her father was a schoolteacher and coached his school's football and cricket teams. She played various sports growing up and tried to compete with the boys on her father's teams. She began playing netball competitively and played at university. One of her coaches at university was Sue Campbell, now Baroness Campbell, who also served as Chair of UK Sport. Nicholl represented Wales in international netball competition including two world championships, with 22 caps between 1975 and 1979. She played as a centre and wing attack. Nicholl earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Nottingham and a Master's of Science in Recreation Management at Loughborough University.
Career
Nicholl served as chief executive of the All England Netball Association from 1980 to 1982 and 1986 to 1999, and was director of the 1995 World Netball Championships held in Birmingham. Nicholl joined UK Sport in 1999 as the Director of Elite Sport overseeing the Performance Directorate. After 10 years in this role, she was appointed chief operating officer in 2009. In 2010, she was named chief executive officer. During her time at UK Sport, the United Kingdom has improved significantly in international sporting events. The UK finished just 36th in the medal table at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, but improved its performance at each successive Olympic Games. In 2016, the UKfinished second in the medal count and made history as the first country to increase its medal count at both the Olympics and the Paralympics immediately after hosting the Games. Nicholl has been called the architect of the organisation's strict "all or nothing" funding system, which has faced criticism due to its focus on medal count and budget cuts in sports that perform poorly. In 2014 she was called "the most powerful woman" in British sport. Nicholl left her role as CEO at UK Sport in July 2019. She is currently the President of the International Netball Federation. She was elected at the INF Congress 2019 in Liverpool ahead of the 2019 Netball World Cup.
She married Andrew Nicholl in 1980. They have two adult children. She and her husband, a retired sports management consultant, live in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.
