Miss Universe collapses after pageant

7/24/2006

Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, Miss Puerto Rico 2006, reacts after winning the Miss Universe 2006 pageant. (AP)

LOS ANGELES -- An 18-year-old from Puerto Rico who hopes to someday star in U.S. and Latin American films was crowned Sunday night as Miss Universe 2006.
Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza shared a nervous emotional hug with first runner-up, Kurara Chibana of Japan, moments before the winner was announced, then clasped her hands to her mouth in amazement as her name was called.
She beamed as the crown was placed on her head but briefly fainted after a post-pageant news conference. She quickly recovered after being given liquids, said Miss Universe spokeswoman Esther Swan.
Rivera, who was wearing a dress made entirely of metal chains, had been standing under hot stage lights for some time when she began to topple over. Someone caught her as she fell.
"I always had faith and confidence in myself, but I never knew I was going to win," Rivera, speaking in Spanish from the stage, said in her first remarks as Miss Universe.
The winner, who is from coastal town of Salinas, said she would continue the pageant's mission of promoting awareness and education about AIDS and HIV.
"I want to tell those people there's always problems in life, but there's always possibilities to improve things," she said. AP

Miss World 1994

Maria Julia Mantilla Garcoova from Peru

Miss World 2006

An 18-year-old student from the Czech Republic won the Miss World 2006 beauty contest today, with the Australian contestant in third place.
Tatana Kucharova defeated 103 other women in voting among a panel of judges and from television viewers around the world during a two-hour finals ceremony in the Polish capital Warsaw.
First runner-up in the 56th edition of the annual beauty pageant was Joana Valentina Boitor, a 17-year-old from Romania. Australia's Sabrina Houssami, 20, was third.