130
5
10
15
20
0
5
0
S
upplemental Reading
V
enezuela may make most of its money from exporting oil, but this
country is probably more well known for exporting beautiful women.
Ever since 1985, there has always been a woman from Venezuela in the
finals of both the Miss World and Miss Universe contests. In fact, in 1995
women from Venezuela held both titles. No other
country comes close to
matching Venezuela’s record for sending winners to these contests.
How does a country with only 21 million people do it? The answer is probably
connected to the Miss Venezuela Academy, a special school for any Miss World or
Miss Universe contestant run by Osmel Sousa.
With his staff, Sousa chooses
women from discos, shopping centers, schools, and off
the street to apply for his
school. Other women come to the school on their own. A few of the things that
Sousa and his staff look for are age (only women between the ages of
seventeen and twenty-four are considered), education (the women
must be able to answer difficult contest questions), and height (the
women must be at least 1.7 meters/5 feet 7 inches). And one more
thing, the women must look good in a swimsuit.
The finalists for the school are
chosen in March so that the
school’s special plastic surgeons will have time to work on the
women because everything must be healed by September, when the
contests begin. The surgery
is all paid for by the school, so few of the
women complain. After completing the academy, even the women
who don’t win Miss World or Miss
Universe end up in modeling,
broadcasting, or acting.
