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July 24, 2006
Tight dress makes Miss Universe faint
By Bernie Woodall
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Forty minutes into her reign as Miss Universe, Miss Puerto Rico Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza collapsed during a post-pageant news conference and was rushed offstage on Sunday night.
Pageant officials immediately said the lithe 5-foot-9 18-year-old was all right and had fainted.
"She's OK. She's fine," pageant representative Lark Anton told Reuters. "She got dizzy. Its very hot up here. Her dress is tight - as you could see it was beaded and heavy. She passed out."
Anton said Mendoza "had plenty to eat today," when pressed for the beauty queen's condition before she fainted at the centre of the stage at the Shrine Auditorium, where she had become the 55th Miss Universe before an international television audience less than an hour earlier.
Mendoza attended the pageant's Coronation Ball after recovering from her collapse, according to guests including Donald Trump, co-owner of the Miss Universe Organisation. "Yes, she's fine," Trump said as he left.
For full story go to: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1072482006