Mom: She carried herself ‘real nice’

Twenty one-year-old Magdalene Walcott, Trinidad and Tobago’s delegate at yesterday’s Miss World 2003 Beauty Pageant, was named one of the 20 semi-finalists. One hundred and six countries were represented at the pageant. The competition was held at the Beauty Crown Theatre in Sanya, in the South Chinese island province of Hainan.

The crown was taken by Miss Ireland, Rosanna Davidson. When Newsday spoke with her mother after the show, Gregoire Walcott gave an elated laugh before saying: “Magdalene did a fine job. From what I saw on television, I knew she was enjoying herself. She carried herself real nice, she looked fantastic.” During the show, the younger Walcott told the estimated two billion world-wide audience that going to China was her first overseas trip. “My dream is to travel the world, it’s been so great, all the things that I’m experiencing in China especially in Sanya, being tropical, remind me of home,” said Walcott, adding that she felt like she was a celebrity. Peter Elias, recently appointed franchise holder and National Director of the local leg of the competition,  was just beaming with pride. He said: “I’m proud of her, she did well. I am so happy as this gives our organisation the credibility. TT is now going through some sad times but this show has shown up our beauty.”

The 20 semi-finalists of Miss World 2003 comprised delegates from the five continents including three from the Caribbean: Dominican Republic — Maria Eugenia Vargas; Jamaica — Jade Marisa Fulford and Miss Trinidad and Tobago. Also, Hayat Ahmed became Ethiopia’s first ever representative in the history of the competition. For the talent part of the competition, Walcott, who back home performs with the parang band Los Alumnos de San Juan, performed “El Milagro.” The accompanying music was remixed in Trinidad and taken to the competition. Going into the final round of competition, the Australia beauty Olivia Stratton was the Miss World People’s Choice; Ireland’s Rosanna Davison was Miss World Beach Beauty; Bolivia’s Helen Aponte — Miss World Top Personality, Georgia’s Irina Onashvili — Miss World Top Talent and Canada’s Nazanin Afshin-Jam — Miss World Top Talent — Sport Competition. At the end of the evening Miss Ireland, Rosanna Davison, was elected Miss World 2003, beating the Canadian Nazanin Afshin-Jam (first runner up) and mainland Chinese Qi Guan (second runner up) for the crown. The other two finalists were Philippines’ Maria Rafaela Yunon and India’s Ami Vashi. Davison, 19, is daughter of “Lady in Red” singer Chris de Burgh and comes from Dublin.