Miss Venezuela is crowned Miss Universe 2008

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Vietnam, July 13, 2008.- Dayana Mendoza was crowned Miss Universe, in a pageant dominated by Latin beauties. The 22-year-old girl was one of the favorites early on in the beauty contest, held in Vietnam. Her excellent body and impeccable night gown gained her a high score in the swimsuit and formalwear competition, but her spontaneity in impressing the judges was perhaps the winning factor.

Miss Universe 2008

Crystle Stewart, Miss USA, falls down during the evening gowns segment of the Miss Universe 2008 beauty pageant in Nha Trang, Vietnam, Monday, July 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Crystle Stewart, Miss USA, poses during the swimsuit segment of the Miss Universe 2008 beauty pageant in Nha Trang, Vietnam, Monday, July 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

The Miss Universe contestants pose during the swimsuit segment of the Miss Universe 2008 beauty pageant in Nha Trang,Vietnam, Monday, July 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Contestants pose on stage during the Miss Universe 2008 pageant in Nha Trang, Vietnam, Monday, July 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Miss Universe contestants pose on stage during the opening of the Miss Universe 2008 pageant in Nha Trang,Vietnam, Monday, July 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

The Miss Universe contestants dance during the swimsuit segment of the Miss Universe 2008 beauty pageant in Nha Trang,Vietnam, Monday, July 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Jerry Springer, co-host for the Miss Universe 2008 competition, poses during a stage rehearsal in Nha Trang,Vietnam, Saturday, July 12, 2008. The 57th annual Miss Universe competition will take place in Nha Trang, Vietnam at the Crown Convention Center on July 14, 2008 .(AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki)

Miss Universe 2008 contestants are seen during a rehearsal in Nha Trang,Vietnam, Saturday, July 12, 2008. The 57th annual Miss Universe competition will take place in Nha Trang, Vietnam at the Crown Convention Center on July 14, 2008 (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki)

Dayana proved her sense of humor while answering gracefully to her question regarding men having it easier in life. She replied that "men think that the best way to reach a point is a straight line, but we women take some curves and detours to fix everything right".

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The svelte Venezuelan, who had been working successfully as an international model, imposed herself among the other three Hispanic beauties, other strong rivals. Despite some major ovations, Elisa Nájera, Miss Mexico, was named the fourth runner-up, followed by Miss Russia in third place. Marianne Cruz González, from Dominican Republic, came in as second runner-up and finally, Colombia's Taliana Vargas was named the first runner-up.

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The Latin beauties made a never before seen impact in the Miss Universe pageant, placing four Hispanic girls among the five finalists. The question round would decide who would be the winner. Taliana Vargas (Colombia) noted that her family has been the key to her happiness and that theres no moment in her past that she would change.

Marianne Cruz González (Dominican Republic) confided that one her biggest sacrifices were that "since I was very young, when my parents divorced, I've had to work. It's quite difficult to stop doing kids stuff. And everything that I've sacrificed is worth it because I see my mother here crying for me". Designer Roberto Cavalli asked Elisa Nájera (Mexico) when a woman feels completely satisfied, to which she answered: "When there's balance in her life, when there's a balance between mind and soul. It's important to find a balance between your community and your work". The question round ended after Vera Krasova (Russia), indicated that she didn't feel that today's women are still discriminated.

Miss Universe from Venezuela

22-year-old Dayana Mendoza, from Caracas, became the fifth Miss Universe from Venezuela. She was crowned during the 57th edition of the pageant, held in Vietnam on July 14th, 2008.

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The last time that Venezuela won Miss Universe had been in 1996, when Alicia Machado took the honors. After her reign, she's been involved in several scandals, including having posed naked for Playboy.

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Bárbara Palacios became the third Venezuelan Miss Universe in 1986. After that, she had her own talk show and now manages her own clothing and design companies.

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In 1981, Irene Sáez was crowned Miss Venezuela in New York. Afterwards, she studied Political Sciences and embarked on a very successfull political career, even running for the presidency of Venezuela (which she lost to Hugo Chávez).

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Finally, the first Miss Venezuela to be granted the title of Miss Universe was back in 1979, with Maritza Sayalero.

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More of the same

The opening of the Miss Universe 2008 pageant was as many before it: all the contestants performing a simple choreography, this time permeated by Asian elements, honoring the city hosting this year, Nha Trang in Vietnam. Jerry Springer and Spice Girl Melanie Brown were the hosts of the evening and quickly proceeded to individually present each of the 80 candidates in their regional gowns. Equally predictable was the video highlighting the reign of Japan's Riyo Mori, Miss Universe 2007, who looked flawless.

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The parade of international beauties marked the quick pacing of the show, trying to avoid the trend of many pageants ago, which ran for over three hours. It wasn't even half hour into the show when the 15 semi-finalists were named: Dayana Mendoza (Venezuela), Elisa Nájera (Mexico), Marianne Cruz González (Dominican Republic), Taliana Vargas (Colombia), Claudia Moro (Spain), Zana Krasniqi (Kosovo), Lam Thy Nguyen (Vietnam), Tansey Coetzee (South Africa), Laura Dundovic (Australia), Hiroko Mima (Japan), Claudia Ferraris (Italy), Vera Krasova (Russia), Jazmin Dammak (Hungry), Eliska Buckova (Checz Republic) and Crystle Stewart (USA). The international juror was formed by Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, Puerto Rican actress Nadine Velazquez, stylist Louis Licari, Miss Universe 2004 Jennifer Hawkins and makeover expert John Nguyen.

Bikinis

During the swimsuit competition, the Latinas were also the highlights, earning top marks and receiving grades above 9. With Lady Gaga performing on stage with them, the finalists that had the highest scores were Miss Colombia with 9.433; Miss Venezuela with 9.327; Miss Spain had 9.150; Miss Mexico (who had won a preliminary swimsuit competition), with 9.071 and Miss Dominican Republic had 8.983. Miss USA, Crystle Stewart, also placed in this exclusive group with a score of 9.207. They all made it to the Top 10, along Kosovo, Australia, Russia and Italy.

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The déjà-vu of the pageant occurred when Miss USA fell during the night gown competition, just as it happened to last years contestant, Rachel Smith, during the 2007 Miss Universe pageant held in Mexico City. Crystle Stewart quickly stood up, applauded along with the audience and with a smile, continued to model as it nothing had happened. Some of the candidates had some interesting dress choices, such as Dominican Republic, wearing a tight gown adorned with crystals, Miss Mexico, with a white skirt and a see-through top that looked like a bra and Miss Colombia, with an interesting metallic design that was highly praised.

Other remarkable mentions are the winners of Miss Congeniality, an honor rewarded to yet another Latina: Miss El Salvador, Rebeca Moreno. And finally, the winner of the best regional gown was given to Miss Thailand, Gavintra Photijak.