LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AFP) — Kirsty Coventry formally became the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the most powerful person in sport, on Monday in a handover ceremony with her predecessor Thomas Bach.

The Zimbabwean is the first woman and African to head the body, and at 41, the youngest since Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who is credited with founding the modern-day Olympics.

Coventry accepted the Olympic key from Bach, who like her is an Olympic champion — he won a team fencing gold in 1976 and she earned two swimming golds in 2004 and 2008.

Stepping down after a turbulent 12-year tenure, Bach expressed his confidence that the Olympic movement was “in the best of hands” and Coventry would bring “conviction, integrity and a dynamic perspective” to the role.

Coventry, who swept to a crushing first-round victory in the election in Greece in March, leans heavily on her family.

Aside from her parents, who were present at the ceremony in Lausanne, there is her husband Tyrone Seward, who was effectively her campaign manager, and two daughters, six-year-old Ella, whom Bach addresses as “princess,” and Lily, just seven months old.

“Ella saw this spider web in the garden and I pointed out how it is made, and how strong and resilient it is to bad weather and little critters,” said Coventry, who takes over officially at midnight Swiss time Monday.

“But if one little bit breaks, it becomes weaker. That spider web is our movement, it is complex, beautiful, and strong, but it only works if we remain together and united.”