Venezuelan beauty aims for Miss Universe crown

Can Venezuela break another Miss Universe record and win for the third time in a row? That's exactly what 21-year-old Marelisa Gibson will be hoping when she lines up with the 83 other contestants on August 23 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas for the 58th annual Miss Universe beauty contest.

In 2009, 18-year-old Stefania Fernandez made Miss Universe history when she was crowned by her compatriot and 2008 winner Dayana Mendoza.

It was the first time any country has had successive victories since the pageant began in 1952 and it brought Venezuela's total number of Miss Universe crowns to an astonishing six, only surpassed by the USA with seven.

No wonder Venezuela has a reputation for producing the most beautiful women in the world.

Now it's Marelisa Gibson's chance to win the coveted crown. But can the Caracas-born beauty do it?

A student of architecture at the Central University of Venezuela, Marelisa speaks French, English and Spanish.

As she makes clear in the video, her best gift has been her large family and 33 cousins.

But it's her animal impressions - especially that weird howling cow - that could prove to be a winning formula.

The beauty queen is certainly upbeat about her prospects. Asked by an Online magazine what she expected from the pageant she said: "To win the Miss Universe crown for Venezuela once again. Why not?"

"Stefania just proved that it was possible to win the crown two times in a row, why not three?"

Let's hope Marelisa makes history on August 23 and brings the Miss Universe crown home to Caracas.

This is a good year for Latinas at the pageant. The British candidate, Tara Hoyos-Martinez, was born to Colombian parents living in England and is the first Latina to win Miss Great Britain. She proudly represented her Latino roots at this year's Carnaval del Pueblo celebrations in Burgess Park.

Dayana Mendoza - Queen of the Universe

Venezuela has done it again. In front of a TV audience estimated at over one billion people in 180 countries, 22-year-old Dayana Mendoza took the coveted Miss Universe crown in Vietnam on Monday, becoming the fifth Venezuelan to win the prestigious beauty prize.

Maritza Sayalero first won the competition for Venezuela in 1979. She was followed by Irene Saez Conde in 1981, Barbara Palacios in 1986 and Alicia Machado in 1996.

Famously, Machado was almost stripped of the title after she binged on junk food after the contest and ballooned dramatically in weight.

Venezuelan beauties have also won the Miss World crown five times, a record unmatched by any other country.

Monday's final at the Crown Convention Center in Vietnam's beautiful beach resort of Nha Trang turned out to be a close thing although Mendoza was the bookies favourite from the start.

The biggest upset of the evening was when Miss USA, Crystle Stewart, took a tumble after tripping on her long evening gown. The ungainly fall definitely cost her a place in the runners up.

In the end, four Latinas joined Miss Russia in the final five - Miss Venezuela, Miss Mexico, Miss Colombia and Miss Dominican Republic.

But Mendoza had looked like a winner from the start, and after nervously holding hands with Miss Colombia for a few tense minutes, she was declared the most beautiful woman in the universe by hosts Jerry Springer and Melanie B, aka Scary Spice.

Mendoza was crowned Miss Venezuela in 2007, where she represented Amazonas State. Her other, less glamorous claim to fame is being the victim of an "express kidnapping" in Venezuela 18 months ago.

“It’s something that happens in my country. You don’t even have to have money to be kidnapped," she told reporters after her victory, "that’s why I wanted to raise my voice and tell the world that violence is not the answer."

Avoiding the usual cliches of world peace and making children happy, Miss Venezuela said she would use her year in the spotlight to focus on humanitarian issues.

Now she's won the title, Miss Mendoza might also want to brush up on her interview skills. Asked by one of the judges if she thought men or women had it easier in life she said in English:

"Well actually God made us to share and to have difference, but big difference between women and men, doesn't matter whether kind of life they live, is that men think, that they think that the faster way to go to a point is go straight. Women know that the faster way to go to a point is go to the curve and fix in every curves."

But why go for a straight answer when you've got curves?


Report on Miss World 2011 - Venezuelan beauty Ivian Sarcos