María Amalia Matamoros Solís is a

Costa Rican Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

model and beauty pageant titleholder who won

Reinas de Costa Rica Reinas de Costa Rica is a national beauty pageant in Costa Rica that selects representatives to the Miss World and Miss International pageant. After the Miss Costa Rica pageant stopped sending contestants to the Miss World and Miss International ...

2008 and went on to represent her country in

Miss World 2008 Miss World 2008, the 58th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 13 December 2008 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. Originally, the pageant was going to take place in Kyiv, Ukraine, but because of the ongo ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, on December 13, 2008. She was not among the fifteen semi-finalists. She began her career in 2008 when she won the Miss Teen ExpoWorld pageant. She has also competed in Miss Latin America 2008, where she was a top twelve finalist, and Miss Continente Americano 2009, where she was unplaced. On October 29, 2009, she represented Costa Rica in Reina Hispanoamericana 2009 in Santa Cruz,

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, winning the Miss Photogenic title. After years of absence from beauty contests, she took part in the

Miss Costa Rica The Miss Costa Rica is a national beauty pageant in Costa Rica. The winner of the pageant represents Costa Rica at Miss Universe pageant. History Costa Rica has participated in the Miss Universe pageant since 1954 and has sent 56 representative ...

2014 pageant, where she represented

Alajuela Province Alajuela () is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the north-central part of the country, bordering Nicaragua to the north. It also borders the provinces of Heredia to the east, San José to the south, Puntarenas to the southwest and G ...

. She finished in the top five and won the special prize "Reto Saba Multi Estilo". She competed again two years later in the 2016 edition, where she was unplaced. In October 2017, she was the representative of

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Miss Grand International Miss Grand International is a beauty pageant franchise based in Thailand. It consists of the annual national pageant Miss Grand Thailand, as well as the international competition Miss Grand International, to which participating rights are licen ...

2017, held at the Vinpearl Convention Center in

Phú Quốc Phú Quốc () is the largest island in Vietnam. Phú Quốc and nearby islands, along with the distant Thổ Chu Islands, are part of Kiên Giang Province as Phú Quốc City, the island has a total area of and a permanent population of appro ...

Island,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. On October 12, she caused a sensation during the national costume competition with an outfit inspired by traditional

Boruca The Boruca (also known as the Brunca or the Brunka) are the indigenous people living in Costa Rica. The tribe has about 2,660 members, most living on a reservation in the Puntarenas Province in southwestern Costa Rica, a few miles away from the ...

masks that featured a feathered wooden headdress entirely hand-carved by the

, although it was so huge that it slipped off her head during her performance. During the evening gown competition held on October 23, she unintentionally garnered the attention of the media because of her fall on stage after she tripped on the hem of her long dress. The video of her fall went viral and got more than 100,000 views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. Although it likely contributed to her loss, she ultimately placed in the Top 20 and won the "Best in Swimsuit" prize.

References

1989 births Living people People from Grecia (canton) Miss World 2008 delegates Miss International 2011 delegates Costa Rican beauty pageant winners {{pageant-bio-stub