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Miss Angola Leila Lopes

September 13, 2011 by · Comments Off on Miss Angola Leila Lopes 

Miss Angola Leila LopesMiss Angola Leila Lopes, Newly crowned Miss Universe Leila Lopes wants to help her native country, Angola still escape a history of wars and the impoverishment and said he plans to focus on the fight against HIV worldwide.

Speaking in a timid voice early Tuesday shortly after taking the crown in the largest city in South America, the Lopes 25-year-old said: “As Miss Angola have already done much to help my people.”

“I’ve worked with several social causes. I work with poor children, I work in the fight against HIV. I work to protect the elderly and I have to do whatever my country needs,” he said. “I think now as Miss Universe, I will be able to do more.”

Responding to questions, Lopes said she has never had cosmetic surgery of any kind and that her three beauty tips went to get a lot of sleep, use sunscreen even when there is no sun and drinking plenty of water. She said her smile was her best weapon in the competition.

Asked about racism in light of the fact that it is one of the few blacks ever crowned Miss Universe, Lopes said “racist needs to get help.”

“It is not normal in the 21st century to think that way.”

Lopes is the first winner of Angola. She beat 88 competitors to win the title in the 60 th anniversary of the world’s largest parade of beauty. She replaces last year’s winner, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico.

Deftly handled the interview question that asks the other five participants. She was asked what physical trait that would change if I could.

“Thank God I’m very pleased with the way God created me and would not change anything,” said Lopes. “I am a woman with inner beauty. I have acquired many of the wonderful principles of my family and I have the intention to continue these for the rest of my life.”

The first runner was 23 years old, Olesia Stefanko of Ukraine and the second runner up was Priscilla Machado Brazil. The third was Miss Philippines and Miss China’s room.

The contestants spent the last three weeks in Sao Paulo, trying to learn samba dance steps, visiting poor children and kick a soccer ball for the cameras as the Miss Universe came to Brazil for the first time.

Despite fighting a favorite of country of origin, Lopes won the public speaking in the common language of Portuguese. Angola, Brazil, is a former Portuguese colony.

“She captivated the crowd and everybody was behind it,” said the Brazilian Natalie Bursztyn, 20, who was in the crowd in Credicard Hall, which hosted the event. “It was great that the judges also saw what fans saw and gave him the crown. Her dress was beautiful and knew exactly what to say when I asked the question about their appearance.”

Another fan of the hearing, Carolina Rocha Lopes said winning was “well deserved, it happened all the time.”

“His smile and her kindness was what distinguished it from others,” said Rocha. “She answered her question very well. That probably helped a lot.”

U.S. broadcast journalist Connie Chung was one of the celebrity judges, and said before the competition was taking the competition seriously.

“I know my job and I’m going to be tough, but fair,” said Chung. “Keep in mind that these women are not only objects to be looked at. They are to be taken seriously. I want to choose someone who is serious and the world is serious, too.”

Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, was promoted up the evening.

“It’s our 60th anniversary, is a great show,” he said. “We are anticipating close to a billion viewers around the world.”

Shugart said it was appropriate to the world’s largest beauty contest held in Brazil at this time, as the nation prepares to host some major events in the coming years.

“I do not think there’s any doubt that the rest of the world’s mind that Brazil is the place, between the Olympics and hosting the World Cup,” he said. “I love the fact that they will implement. I always say we’re the ‘World Cup’ of beauty.”

Contestants must not have been married or had children and must be at least 18 years of age and under 27 years old on February 1 of the year competition.

The event, organized by the NBC “Today” anchor Natalie Morales Bravo network and Cohen, Andy, was broadcast live on NBC and distributed to about 170 countries. The competition is co-owned by Donald Trump and NBC, and celebrity judges including Chung and two prominent Brazilian, model Isabeli Fontana and Indy race car driver Helio Castroneves.

Morales, who is half Brazilian, said “the most important is for women to be beautiful inside and out.”

For Cohen, the task of hosting has been easy.

“It’s a fun job. All I have to do is be there, smiling and shouting the names of countries,” he said.

Elegantly dressed women and men jostled for chances to take pictures with the stars on the red carpet. Some traveled from all over the world to support the contestants.

No gaffes-grabbing title to enter the competition this year, compared with previous years, they have seen disputes of various kinds. The show itself went smoothly.

Miss USA Alyssa Campanella, California, failed to end a long period of loss of U.S. in the competition. An American has not been elected Miss Universe since Brook Lee won the title in 1997.

The contest began as a swimsuit magazine local Long Beach, California, organized by a swimsuit company.

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