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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: Shermy
Wow. "Green eyed lady... lovely lady"
41 posted on 05/30/2002 9:19:46 PM PDT by csvset
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To: Denver Ditdat
Hey now, that's not a hair problem.

Your comparing apples and orangutans.

42 posted on 05/30/2002 9:58:57 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Your=You're

(Not to be confused with Yuri.)

43 posted on 05/30/2002 10:01:48 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Diddle E. Squat
You're so right about the 70s. What a squalid wasteland it was. But there were some bright spots in popular culture. Marvin Gaye lent it some polish with tunes like "Mercy Mercy Me." Brook Benton gave us the best rendition of the best rainy night driving tune ever, "Rainy Night in Georgia." Joe Simon was drowning in his "sea of love" and the O'Jays were warning us all about "the back stabbers." Jimmy Cliff threw down the gauntlet with "the harder they come." And two of the tightest arrangements ever came our way courtesy of the Temptations (Papa Was A Rolling Stone) and Isaac Hayes (Theme From Shaft).

It was a trashy decade, but it was also the decade of the Eagles, Star Wars and Hill Street Blues.

44 posted on 05/30/2002 10:09:01 PM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: Diddle E. Squat
And how could I forget "The Godfather?"

It wasn't all "Scream Blackula Scream."

45 posted on 05/30/2002 10:11:59 PM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: FreedominJesusChrist
More talk about 'cut butts' could get the eyes and ears of River City buzzing, and they have been known to fling the term 'brazen hussy' at shocking displays of moral indiscretion.

"Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little, cheep cheep cheep, talk a lot, pick a little more..."

46 posted on 05/30/2002 10:12:52 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Bonaparte
Goodness, I'm even starting to appreciate the BeeGees.
47 posted on 05/30/2002 10:14:07 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Bonaparte
Nor could we forget Larry Czonka, Tom Landry, or several U. U. Texas national championships.
48 posted on 05/30/2002 10:15:56 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Absolutely! And the muscle cars were still tearing up the streets. The Chrysler Hemis were handing off the torch to the Shelby Cobra and the 427 was giving them both a run for their money!

And the BeeGees? I'm certain I wasn't the only guy in the US whose girlfriend decided "How Deep Is Your Love?" was "our song." She could have done a lot worse.

49 posted on 05/30/2002 10:22:23 PM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: Bonaparte
Ha, girls pretty much had cooties during the 70's for me! My 'our songs' were crap like Extreme's "More Than Words". Has any guy actually had a say in which song was 'our song'?

OBTW, one of the true highlights of the 70's was Earl Campbell and Bum Phillips. They never did kick the door in, but those Luv Ya Blue Astrodome rallies of 50,000+ greeting the Oiler's return from playoff LOSSES were unforgettable. Anyone who says Houston is a bad sports town has absolutely no clue whatsoever.

50 posted on 05/30/2002 10:32:06 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Nope. It's an unspoken tradition, almost an iron law of romance, that she gets dibbies on "our song." Hey, I sympathize with your past plight, but it coulda been a worse, a lot worse. I remember with a twinge the one whose idea of a perfect evening at home was watching the Miss America pageant on mute with the Four Seasons blaring in my ear. I took the coward's way out that night and just snuck outta da house.
51 posted on 05/30/2002 10:41:27 PM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: Bonaparte
Even that could have been worse. It could have been a Miss America pagent with ONLY MARSHA BRADY HAIR!

Snuck out, eh? That's about as bad as the time when my girlfriend showed up with almost all her long, beautiful, naturally curly hair cut off. Asked what I thought, I said she looked like Florence Henderson(Brady Bunch mom).

Never was forgiven for that.

52 posted on 05/30/2002 10:53:17 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Diddle E. Squat
LOLOL! I staggered into the house one day in 1975, and the ditz had shaved her head completely bald! I kid you not. She just sat there looking at the expression of total shock on my face and laughing like a hyena. I'm telling you rfn, Diddle E, if looks could kill she would have been on death row, but she was more than a few degrees retarded.
53 posted on 05/30/2002 11:17:02 PM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: Bonaparte
Wow.
54 posted on 05/30/2002 11:20:42 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Bonaparte
True...
55 posted on 05/30/2002 11:22:02 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: FreedominJesusChrist
I'm not kidding. I saw it in one of the Russian newspapers.
56 posted on 05/31/2002 12:20:02 AM PDT by Arkinsaw
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To: Shermy
Somebody needs to lay down the law.

(hand going up over here) Me, me!

+=[)B^)>

57 posted on 05/31/2002 3:17:50 AM PDT by Erasmus
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To: Arkinsaw
I believe you, it's just that they would make a hilarous couple.
58 posted on 05/31/2002 12:37:13 PM PDT by FreedominJesusChrist
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Oksana Fyodorova, "Miss Russia" and graduate student of the Interior Ministry University Photographer: Belinsky Yuri Source: Photo ITAR-TASS May 30, 2002 11:09 Photographer: Denisov Anton Source: Photo ITAR-TASS
59 posted on 06/01/2002 11:32:31 AM PDT by Veronica Lodge
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To: Archie
http://www.russiajournal.com/misc/slide/
60 posted on 06/01/2002 12:03:34 PM PDT by Veronica Lodge
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