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St. Pete Cop Crowned Miss Universe
Moscow Times ^ | May 31, 2002 | Oksana Yablokova and Irina Titova

Posted on 05/30/2002 5:35:24 PM PDT by Shermy

She's well-versed in weapons and hand-to-hand combat. She's charming, loves Dostoevsky, orchids and dogs, and knows how to keep state secrets.

Oh, and she's the most beautiful woman in the world.

Oksana Fyodorova, 24, has been crowned Miss Universe 2002 at a glitzy ceremony, sweeping away 74 other contestants to become the first Russian to win the title.

The dark-haired, green-eyed St. Petersburger is also probably the first Miss Universe who's a ranking police lieutenant, with six months of detective experience under her belt.

Fyodorova, wearing a flowing white evening dress, made the pageant crowd roar Wednesday night when she was asked the final question: "What makes you blush?"

"When I say the wrong things!" Fyodorova replied.

Many of the other contestants said they didn't blush.

The 1.80-meter-tall Fyodorova was the only European among the five finalists at the pageant in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The others were from Panama, China, South Africa and Venezuela.

She wins $250,000 in cash as well as promotional contracts and a scholarship to the School for Film and Television in New York, where she gets a luxury riverside apartment for a year.

"I feel good. I haven't been this happy in a long time," she said in Russian at a news conference afterward, according to The Associated Press. "I am completely shocked. This is the first time my country has ever won."

Russian Yulia Kurochkina won the competing Miss World contest in 1991.

Fyodorova, a postgraduate student in civil law, already holds the title of Miss Russia 2001 and Miss St. Petersburg 1999. When she won the Miss Russia title, Russian television showed her in a drab green police uniform standing beside a giant portrait of President Vladimir Putin in her office. But she insists she has no connections to the president.

She said at the pageant that she has a 38-year-old boyfriend named Vladimir.

Fyodorova's victory led Russian television news programs throughout the day Thursday. On NTV, Vladimir Salnikov, head of the Interior Ministry University, proudly read excerpts from her school records: "Physically in good condition. Knows the rules for maintaining and firing weapons. ... Knows how to keep state secrets."

He boasted about her speed at taking apart and assembling a Kalashnikov assault rifle on RTR.

"All her students liked her," Yevgeny Protsenko, head of the civil law department where Fyodorova studies at the St. Petersburg Police Academy, said in an interview. "We had big hopes for her victory because she is such a purposeful, persistent and charming girl."

He said Fyodorova is writing her dissertation on regulating privacy and security activities.

"I cannot say that her victory was unexpected. We believed in her," he added. "But on the other hand, it must have been tough competing with 74 countries."

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was the only politician to publicly comment on Fyodorova's victory.


Fyodorova taking part in the swimsuit competition
in the pageant Wednesday night.

"I welcome this. I was not surprised that a Russian won that contest," he said in London, where he was attending a conference on the weightier subject of capital flight and money laundering.

"Russians can win in all kinds of competitions, starting with mathematics and Olympics, with young boys and girls, and all the way to beauty contests," he said, according to local news reports.

Fyodorova, an only child raised by her mother, was born in Pskov and moved to St. Petersburg at the age of 18.

She said in an interview last year that she feels most at home in the imperial capital.

"My grandparents lived in Leningrad and survived the blockade here," she said. "I think a genie cast his spell on me when I came here and I fell in love with this city."

She said she chose a career in law enforcement because it gave her confidence and discipline. She eventually wants to become a lawyer and mother.

"In Russia, a woman should not only be beautiful but also know how to stand up for herself," she said.

Marina Kruglova, vice president of the Miss Russia pageant, said Thursday that Fyodorova's grace and intelligence had helped her steal the judges' hearts.

"She was the most natural of all the girls who stood on stage like Barbie dolls," she said.

Fyodorova, the 51st Miss Universe, takes the crown from Puerto Rican Denise Quinones. The first runner-up was Miss Panama, Justine Pasek.

Irina Titova contributed to this report from St. Petersburg.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Russia
KEYWORDS: donutwatch; missuniverse; russia; russialist
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To: Diddle E. Squat; FreedominJesusChrist
Finalist Miss Panama has wavy hair:


21 posted on 05/30/2002 6:49:12 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: Shermy
She's absolutely georgeous! This is wonderful for Russia, I'm glad they're receiveing the rewards of opening up to the world.
22 posted on 05/30/2002 7:03:36 PM PDT by McGavin999
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Big poofy curly hair is so 80s and therefore so UGLY!

The 70s and the 80s were a gross period for our culture.

23 posted on 05/30/2002 7:04:51 PM PDT by Clemenza
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Trust me, most guys don't care for flat, nothing, long straight hair.

Her hair is awesome, just like the rest of her.

24 posted on 05/30/2002 7:16:02 PM PDT by cruiserman
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To: Clemenza
No, no, no, the 70's was the pinnacle of bad taste, but the 80's were great! (OK, the '70's bled into the 80's just a little bit) And lazy, limp, flat, straight 'Marsha, Marsha, Marsha' hair is SOOOOO 70's(a carryover from the grunged, unshaven doped-up naturist end of the 60's.) A great debate could be started over the true cultural stylistic lowpoint, somewhere between 1969 and 1974. Even Saturday Night Fever was an improvement. The mid to late 90's approached, but never reached that stylistic train wreck, mainly because it was a retro imitation, instead of a true meltdown.

Goodness gracious, I'm not advocating Farrah Fawcett, Morgan Fairchild, or Rosanna Rosannadana fro's.

25 posted on 05/30/2002 7:18:15 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Shermy

A far cry from the Tractor Factory Heroines of the Soviet Era.

26 posted on 05/30/2002 7:18:56 PM PDT by El Gato
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To: Clemenza
As distinguished from the 90's you mean? The 80's gave us Mr. Reagan, which covers that decade for me.
27 posted on 05/30/2002 7:19:03 PM PDT by WarrenC
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To: cruiserman
Haha, I guess some guys 'settle' too easily!
28 posted on 05/30/2002 7:20:22 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Shermy
Why thank you.

Cue up Van Halen.

29 posted on 05/30/2002 7:21:44 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Paleo Conservative
The 1.80-meter-tall Fyodorova Almost 5' 11" for the metricly challenged. ( I have to convert my self to make it "real")
30 posted on 05/30/2002 7:24:26 PM PDT by El Gato
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To: El Gato
A far cry from the Tractor Factory Heroines of the Soviet Era.
31 posted on 05/30/2002 7:38:26 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts
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To: El Gato
That is consistent with my 'Schoolhouse Rocks' conversion techniques ("A meter, a meter, a little more than a yard")

5'11"? An excellent height!

32 posted on 05/30/2002 7:43:51 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Shermy
Miss Panama's got my vote. I see alot of nitpicking hair here, for the record, guys love long hair..period. Styling is just bonus points.
33 posted on 05/30/2002 7:48:33 PM PDT by T. Jefferson
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
I see your point...

Spent a lot of time in E.Europe, at various times. They're beautiful, down-to-Earth, practical and fiercely loyal... They demand honesty and loyalty, as well... Ironically, she's not unusual for Russia,with regard to her looks or build... Guys here would gawk at her, but over there, that is the norm, more than the exception...

All of these aspects, are why I'll be going back again...

Be well,

34 posted on 05/30/2002 8:01:36 PM PDT by Capitalist Eric
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To: Shermy
Is it just me, or do these swimsuits look more like UNDERWEAR? She looks like she's doing a show for Victoria's Secret lingerie!
35 posted on 05/30/2002 8:05:50 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: Shermy
"Evenink-vare - VERRRRRY nice!"

"Sweem-vare - VERRRRRY nice!"

36 posted on 05/30/2002 8:08:34 PM PDT by strela
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To: Capitalist Eric
All of these aspects, are why I'll be going back again...

I envy you.

Pinch one for me!

Just kidding. That would be uncouth.

37 posted on 05/30/2002 8:22:22 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts
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To: Diddle E. Squat
What's the world coming too? Marsha Brady bleh!

Well... given a choice between the Marsha look and the Chelsea look, I'll take the former every time.

I think the new Miss Universe is absolutely gorgeous.

38 posted on 05/30/2002 8:27:58 PM PDT by Denver Ditdat
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To: Diddle E. Squat
I was so embarrassed after I posted #14! I meant "cut" and not "but."
39 posted on 05/30/2002 8:50:02 PM PDT by FreedominJesusChrist
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To: SuziQ
"Is it just me, or do these swimsuits look more like UNDERWEAR? She looks like she's doing a show for Victoria's Secret lingerie!"

I totally agree with you on this one. My roomate worked at Victoria's Secret when they were promoting their Dream Angels stuff, and Miss Universe's swimwear reminds me of last winter's Victoria's Secret promo.

Most beauty pageants in America do not allow two-piece swimsuits into the contest, it is one-piecers only for the most part. I think that is good and does show at least some modesty in the beauty pageant world.

40 posted on 05/30/2002 8:53:50 PM PDT by FreedominJesusChrist
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