Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Julia Alexandrovna Kourotchkina, Miss Russia, a voluptuous 1.8-metre-blonde, was crowned Miss World 1992 amid an extravaganza of glitz in the first pageant held at South Africa's Sun City desert resort. Eighteen-year-old Kurotchkina beat Miss United Kingdom Claire Smith, 21, by a margin of one point, the closest in the 42-year history of the pageant. The crowning of Miss Russia was a coup for South African leisure magnate Sol Kerzner, who brought the Miss World pageant to Africa for the first time as part of the opening celebration of his 830 million rand ($275 million) Lost City hotel complex here.When Kourotchkina was asked by veteran British TV journalist Alan Whicker whether she thought beauty contests were demeaning to women, she replied with a giggly smile: "Everybody loves women." It was an answer which won her over $90,000 worth of prizes and world's most coveted beauty title.
The runners-up were:
1st runner-up: Claire Elizabeth Smith (United Kingdom)
2nd runner-up: Francis del Valle Gago Aponte (Venezuela)
Finalists:
3rd runner-up: Ewa Wachowicz (Poland)
4th runner-up: Amy Kleinhans (South Africa)
The delegates who made in the top ten are:
Jody Barbara Weech (Bahamas), Anja Hende Brond (Denmark), Petra Enrika von Hellens (Finland), Ravit Asaf (Israel), and Sharon Flynn Belden (United States).
Special awards
Best National Costume: Nina Khilji (Canada)
Personality: Ana Maria Johanis Iglesias (Guatemala)
Photogenic: Ravit Asaf (Israel)
Continental Queens
Africa: Amy Kleinhans - South Africa
America: Francis del Valle Gago Aponte - Venezuela
Asia & Oceania: Metinee Kingpayome - Thailand
Caribbean: Jody Barbara Weech - Bahamas
Europe: Julia Alexandrovna Kourotchkina - Russia
***1992 marked the first year that no Asian country made it into the Top 10 in Miss World. Israel, which made it into the Top 10, competed as part of Europe in Miss World since 1989.
***The preliminary scores in Miss World were no longer presented.
***Philippine representative Marina Santos Benipayo was a last minute replacement for original representative Marilen Espino who had to withdraw due to illness just days before her departure.
