Kirsty Coventry will become the first woman to hold the most powerful role in sport, having been elected the 10th International Olympic Committee (IOC) president at a meeting in Greece.
The Zimbabwean sports minister and double Olympic swimming champion is also the first African and, at the age of 41, the youngest person to take up the position. But her victory is controversial as well as groundbreaking.
BBC Sport looks at why.
A landslide win and a new era
Despite predictions of a close race between the seven candidates and expectations of multiple rounds of voting, Coventry secured an overall majority of the secret ballot after just one round, winning 49 votes out of a possible 97.