India, March 20 -- Zimbabwe's double Olympic swimming champion Kirsty Coventry won a historic election to become the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) first woman president, and the youngest in the 130-year existence of the world's most powerful sporting organisation.

The 41-year-old Zimbabwe sports minister's ascension to the post also makes her the first African to be elected to the post.

"This is an extraordinary moment. As a nine-year-old girl I never thought I'd be standing up here one day, getting to give back to this incredible movement of ours," a beaming Coventry said in her acceptance speech, after outgoing president Thomas Bach held up a paper with her name in bold letters.

"I hope that this vote will be an inspiration...