Miss World 1992
Julia Kourotchkina - Russia
Julia Alexandrovna Kourotchkina, Miss Russia, a voluptuous 1.8-metre-blonde, was crowned Miss World 1992 amid an extravaganza of glitz in the first pageant held at South Africa's Sun City desert resort. Eighteen-year-old Kurotchkina beat Miss United Kingdom Claire Smith, 21, by a margin of one point, the closest in the 42-year history of the pageant. The crowning of Miss Russia was a coup for South African leisure magnate Sol Kerzner, who brought the Miss World pageant to Africa for the first time as part of the opening celebration of his 830 million rand ($275 million) Lost City hotel complex here.When Kourotchkina was asked by veteran British TV journalist Alan Whicker whether she thought beauty contests were demeaning to women, she replied with a giggly smile: "Everybody loves women." It was an answer which won her over $90,000 worth of prizes and world's most coveted beauty title.
