Sunday Times 2
Is this the globe’s most eligible woman?
She beat 120 international contestants each deemed to be not only the most beautiful in their home countries, but the best example of what it means to be a modern woman.
So, who is Rolene Strauss – aka Miss World 2014 – and is she really one of the world’s most eligible women?
Rolene Strauss of South Africa (C) reacts when she was declared Miss World 2014 at the ExCel Centre in east London last Sunday. Reuters/Toby Melville
This year’s crop which made it to the final in London – the city where the competition started 63 years ago – far from being the stereotypical ‘dumb beauty queens’, were pretty and polished.
The majority hold a university degree, as well as juggling a vast array of interests, hobbies and charity work.
Miss Strauss – whose first runner up was Miss Hungary, Edina Kulcsar, and second runner up was Miss United States, Elizabeth Safrit – is the perfect example of that.
Miss South Africa, 22-year-old Rolene Strauss, was crowned Miss World 2014 at the contest’s glitzy final in London on Sunday, with an estimated billion viewers watching on TV around the globe.
Medical student Strauss clasped her hands together in surprise and was crowned by the outgoing Miss World, Megan Young of the Philippines, to huge cheers in the ExCeL exhibition centre.
She pipped her fellow contestants to clinch first place in an action-packed three weeks that included a sports, top model and beach fashion competition, a talent contest, Beauty With A Purpose round and a debate at the Oxford Union.
Rolene’s principle passion is medicine. The beauty queen is a fourth year medical student and science is clearly in her blood.
Her parents are a doctor and nurse, and in a pre-taped interview for the pageant, Rolene said that becoming Miss South Africa and Miss World and studying medicine were her ‘childhood dreams’.
‘Everyone in my town called me Little Dr Strauss,’ she said. ‘Because I was always the little curly-headed girl running around behind my dad in the hospital.
‘I’m a test tube baby and I believe my passion for health was born with me,’ she added.
As well as being a medical student, Rolene is bilingual and speaks fluent English, as well as Afrikaans.
Writing on her website, she explains that she’s always had ‘big dreams’. She said: ‘We moved to a small town called Volksrust, in Mpumalanga. Ever since then I was a small town girl with big dreams.
‘To be the best me, to follow my destiny and someday be a woman who uses what she was given out of grace; to inspire, to love, to sympathize and to give.’
Obviously religious, she adds: ‘The following verse never fails to give me goose bumps: “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11. We all have a future of hope, a destiny planned for each as individual. The choices we make are the turns we take on the road to our destinies.’
Paying tribute to her country after being crowned, she said: ‘South Africa this is for you. I think I will brace myself for what’s about to happen. It’s a huge responsibility.’
Rolene is determined to use her new crown for the good of the community. She told AFP she wanted to help spread education in her homeland and thereby help other people realise their dreams.
‘I am what I am today because of the opportunities I have received and I would love to give others the same opportunities; educating, the opportunity to be educated, to make healthy choices and also to live their dreams.’
And she was already getting used to the glittering crown.
‘I’ll definitely keep it on as long as I can but my parents are staying around here so they’ll be hugging me and I’m afraid that it might fall off,’ she said.
There’s good news for all the men out there; Miss Strauss is single. In a recent interview with the South African TV Authority, she was asked how many boyfriends she’d ever dumped.
She replied: ‘I would say three.’ When asked about her relationship status, she said: ‘I definitely don’t have a public relationship.
‘You know, as a Miss South Africa people look up to you and see you as an independent, strong woman. That’s the picture I’d like to show people out there and I think it’s difficult to be in a relationship because of your busy schedule.’
Miss Hungary, Edina Kulcsar, was judged the runner-up and Miss United States, Elizabeth Safrit, came third in the 64th annual competition, contested by women from 121 countries.
This year’s event has been rocked by the murder of Miss Honduras, 19-year-old Maria Jose Alvarado, who was shot dead along with her sister last month.
Police in Honduras accuse her sister’s boyfriend of shooting them after seeing his partner dancing with another man at a party.
Strauss and other contestants will travel to the crime-plagued central American nation to build a school named in the sisters’ honour.
‘We hope that it will really start to impress on the people in Honduras that the violence, and hurting people like those two innocent women… maybe they can think again before they take a gun,’ Miss World chairwoman Julia Morley told AFP.
Sunday’s show started with a spectacular choreographed dance routine, with all the beauty queens on stage in costumes inspired by their homelands – including Miss Bolivia in a colourful feathered headdress.
While beauty remains central to the event, the women taking part are chiefly judged on their talents and involvement in good causes.
Miss World began in 1951, a year before its chief rival Miss Universe.
Strauss is the third South African Miss World, the country having held the title in 1958 and 1974.
Venezuela tops the all-time leader board with six titles, ahead of India and the United Kingdom on five titles each.
Julia Morley, Miss World Chairman, said: ‘It was great to bring the 64th Miss World Final back to London and where it all began 63 years ago.
‘I’m looking forward to travelling with Rolene, the new Miss World, to visit countries around the globe to support this year’s finalists Beauty with a Purpose fundraising projects.’
© Daily Mail, London
| Miss World is hanging up her bikini! Pageant reveals famous swimsuit round will be removed from competition as of 2015 By Margot Peppers The owners of the Miss World pageant have announced that there will be no swimsuit round in next year’s competition.  Flashback: Miss World, founded in 1951 by Eric Morley, started as a contest dedicated exclusively to swimwear.  Left, 1956 winner Petra Schurmann. Left, 1971 winner Xiomara Paguaga Rodríguez) In an interview with Elle, chairwoman Julia Morley explained: ‘I really… don’t need to see women just walking up and down in bikinis. It doesn’t do anything for the woman. And it doesn’t do anything for any of us.’ She added: ‘I don’t care if someone has a bottom two inches bigger than someone else’s. We are really not looking at her bottom. We are really listening to her speak.’ Miss World, which was founded in 1951 by Mrs Morley’s late husband Eric, started as a contest dedicated exclusively to swimwear called the Festival Bikini Contest. But recently, she has come to feel that the swimsuit round is archaic and unnecessary. As such, the pageant has elected not to broadcast the bikini portion of the show in recent years, judging the girls privately in front of a small panel instead. But as of 2015, they plan to do away with the swimsuit round altogether. ‘We don’t want to just make them feel like they are walking bodies, you know?’ explained Mrs Morley. Mrs Morley, who is in her seventies, also revealed that she is hoping to set her competition apart from other pageants by emphasizing brains and personality over physical beauty. One step was the creation of Beauty with a Purpose, the service element of the competition which she started in 1974. In order to win this part of the event, the contestant must be judged as having done the most relevant and important charity project in her nation. By eliminating the swimsuit round, Mrs Morley says she hopes to distinguish her pageant from those like the Donald Trump-owned Miss Universe, which places a large emphasis on the bikini contest. In fact, following the death of her husband in 2000, Mr Trump apparently called Mrs Morley to ask if she was ‘ready to throw in the towel’. His comments prompted her to take out a $5million loan in order to bolster the company. ‘They are not little girls,’ she said of her contestants. © Daily Mail, London |