LOS ANGELES:

A tearful Miss Puerto Rico, Zuleyka Rivera, was crowned Miss Universe 2006 on July 23, the fifth time the crown has gone to a woman from the US island territory in the Caribbean.

“The truth is, I still do not believe it,” the 18-year-old student and model said after she was crowned.

Beauties from 86 nations competed in the 55th Miss Universe pageant at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, vying to succeed Canadian Natalie Glebova, Miss Universe 2005.

The event, run by real estate mogul Donald Trump’s organisation, now attracts most interest in Latin America and in the Asia-Pacific region though it is broadcast to an estimated 600 million people in 170 countries.

Rivera answered her final question, in Spanish, about how she viewed success: “That special satisfaction when a person gives what they can without worrying about the obstacles in the way.”

Rivera is 175 centimeters (five feet, nine inches) tall, and was chosen from among the final five candidates, which included Switzerland, Japan, Paraguay and the US, to wear the 250,000-dollar crown.

Puerto Rican contestants won the crown in 1970, 1985, 1993 and 2001, the second-greatest number after the US, which has won seven times.