Elmira Rafailovna Abdrazakova (russian: Эльмира Абдразакова; born 7 October 1994 in

Zhelezin District Zhelezin ( kk, Железин ауданы, ) is a district of Pavlodar Region in northern Kazakhstan. The administrative center of the district is the selo of Zhelezinka. Population: Elmira Abdrazakova, born in the above Kazakh district, wa ...

) is a Kazakh-Russian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned

Miss Russia 2013 Miss Russia 2013 the 21st edition of the Miss Russia pageant, was held in the Crocus National Exhibition Hall in Moscow on March 1, 2013. 50 contestants from all over Russia competed for the crown. The winner represented Russia at the Miss Univer ...

and represented Russia at the

Miss Universe 2013 Miss Universe 2013 was the 62nd Miss Universe pageant, held at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Moscow, Russia on November 9, 2013. At the end of the event, Olivia Culpo of the United States crowned Gabriela Isler of Venezuela as Miss Uni ...

and

Miss World 2013 Miss World 2013, the 63rd edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 28 September 2013 at Bali International Convention Center, South Kuta, Bali, Indonesia. It was the first time in Southeast Asia and it also was the first time in the page ...

pageants.

Personal life

Born to a

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

father Rafail Abdrazakov and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

mother Olga Pshenichnikova, Elmira was raised in

Mezhdurechensk, Kemerovo Oblast Mezhdurechensk ( rus, Междуреченск, p=mʲɪʐdʊˈrʲetɕɪnsk; cjs, Суғаразы-тура, ''Suƣarazь-tura'') is a city in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia. Population: History It was established in 1948 and granted town status in ...

Miss Russia 2013

Abdrazakova was crowned Miss Russia 2013 at the 21st edition of Miss Russia beauty pageant, held at the Concert Hall Barvikha Luxury Village in Moscow on 2 March 2013. She is 5 ft. 9 ins. (1.75 m) tall. The Miss Russia 2013 final ceremony was televised on the NTV channel on 8 March 2013. The ceremony started with the hit song "Christmas Tree". She was an official representative of Russia at the world's two most prestigious beauty contests,

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

and

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss Int ...

. She was of a victim of racial abuse due to her Tatar background. She closed her social network accounts after repeated abuse by trolls.

Miss World 2013

Elmira represented

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

at the

pageant, held in

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

on 9 September 2013. She failed to place in the Top 20.

Miss Universe 2013

Abdrazakova later represented

at the

pageant in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, her home country.

Public reaction to the victory

Elmira's success in the

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

generated a massive negative response on social media. As Elmira reported at a press conference, she received thousands of messages, most of which included attacks on both her appearance and her ethnic identity. According to Elmira's report, "when she arrived home and looked at her page, she was shocked by the amount of disgruntled comments that Internet users wrote to her". Popular humorous communities posted satirical cartoons. As a result, girl was forced to delete her page on the social network

VKontakte VK (short for its original name ''VKontakte''; russian: ВКонтакте, meaning ''InContact'') is a Russian online social media and social networking service based in Saint Petersburg. VK is available in multiple languages but it is predomin ...

. However, the page was restored later.

References

External links

Miss Russia Official Website

The real life Cinderella: Russian Angelina Jolie

"'A Gypsy Woman Cannot Be the Face of Russia'" by Alsu Kurmasheva
''The Atlantic'' magazine, 6 March 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdrazakova 1994 births Living people Russian beauty pageant winners Russian female models Russian models Tatar people of Russia Kazakhstani emigrants to Russia Miss Russia winners Miss World 2013 delegates Miss Universe 2013 contestants