International Participation
Despite the country's fascination with pageants and the incredible efforts and funds expended to prepare winners (including appointing them teams of fashion designers and coaches), it has had a mixed record at international contests. Luz Marina Zuluaga remains the country's only Miss Universe, winning in 1958; she was awarded a mansion and tax exemption for life, an honor which is expected to follow any woman who can retake the world title. Colombians have come close on several occasions, making the top 15 multiple times, and from 1992 to 1994 Miss Colombia consecutively placed as first runner-up, and again in 2008 but the Miss Universe title has continued to elude the country. In 2004, for example, Jeymmy Paola Vargas Gómez became the first black woman to win the Miss International crown.
Read more about this topic: Miss Colombia