環球小姐花落委內瑞拉

Miss Venezuela, Dayana Mendoza, was crowned Miss Universe 2008 in Vietnam's resort city of Nha Trang on Monday.

The 22-year-old brunette was given her crown, made of white and yellow gold and precious stones, by last year's winner, Riyo Mori of Japan, at the pageant finale watched by nearly a billion television viewers worldwide.

"I am excited. I cried a lot. I am really glad I made it," Mendoza, the 57th winner of the title, later told reporters.

The model and interior design student was among four finalists from Latin America, including first runner-up Taliana Vargas, 20, from Colombia.

The rest of the top five were from the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Russia.

This year's event went more smoothly than the 2007 pageant in Mexico, which was marked by protests, a banned dress and the withdrawal of Miss Sweden after critics at home complained the contest degraded women.

However, misfortune befell Miss USA for a second straight year. During the evening gown parade, Crystle Stewart of Texas slipped on the runway. She finished in the top 10.

The annual Miss Universe pageant was first held in Long Beach, California, in 1952.

The event was taken over in 1996 by US real estate mogul Donald Trump.

Vietnam spent nearly $20 million on the event, including $7 million on a new resort and convention centre to host the pageant, in a bid to promote tourism to the Southeast Asian nation.

After celebrating at home with her family, Mendoza will spend her year-long reign traveling the world to speak out on humanitarian issues.

"I think I will jump on my family and they will jump on me. I want to have my mum's food," she said.

“2008環球小姐”總決賽於本週一在越南旅遊勝地芽莊市舉行，委內瑞拉小姐達雅娜•門多薩摘得桂冠。

22歲的門多薩有着深棕色的頭髮。在頒獎典禮上，去年的“環球小姐”、來自日本的森理世爲她戴上了鑲有白金、黃金和寶石的桂冠。當天的總決賽吸引了全球近十億電視觀衆觀看。

第57屆“環球小姐”冠軍門多薩之後在接受記者採訪時說：“我很激動，流下了很多淚水。能成爲環球小姐，我真的很高興。”

這位模特兼室內設計專業的學生是進入決賽的四位拉美選手之一，20歲的哥倫比亞小姐塔利亞娜•瓦格斯奪得了亞軍。

躋身前五名中的其他幾位佳麗分別來自多米尼加共和國、墨西哥和俄羅斯。

與去年在墨西哥舉行的“環球小姐”總決賽相比，今年的比賽要順利得多。去年的總決賽可謂插曲不斷，出現了抗議示威，禁穿服裝和退賽等一系列事件。當時瑞典小姐因本國一些批評人士抨擊“環球小姐”大賽是對女性的羞辱而退出了比賽。

美國小姐則連續兩年遭遇不幸。在今年的晚禮服秀上，美國小姐克莉絲託•斯圖爾特不慎滑倒，最終進入比賽前十名。

一年一度的“環球小姐”選美大賽於1952年首次在加利福尼亞的長島舉行。

1996年，該比賽由美國地產巨頭唐納德•特朗普接手承辦。

越南爲舉辦此次大賽投入了近2000萬美元，其中700萬美元用於爲比賽修建新度假勝地和會議中心。該東南亞國家希望通過舉辦此次比賽促進本國旅遊業的發展。

門多薩與家人慶祝勝利後將會踏上一年的環球之旅，進行人道主義宣傳。

她說：“我想我見到家人時，我們一定會跳起來互相擁抱。我現在很想吃媽媽做的菜。”