Maritza Sayalero Fernández (born February 16, 1961, in Caracas) is a Venezuelan designer, model, businesswoman and beauty queen. In 1979 she was crowned both

Miss Venezuela Miss Venezuela (Spanish: ''Organización Miss Venezuela'') is the national beauty pageant of Venezuela, traditionally held in September. It is preceded by two or three months of preliminary events, with the awarding of corporate prizes. The fi ...

and

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 ...

, the first woman from Venezuela to win this title. She is married to Mexican tennis player

Raúl Ramírez Raúl Ramírez (born 20 June 1953) is a Mexican retired professional tennis player. He was active during the 1970s and 1980s. Ramírez was the first player to finish first in both singles and doubles Grand Prix point standings, accomplishing th ...

, with whom she has lived in Mexico since 1981. For years she had a boutique where she sold items of her own design.

Miss Venezuela

Sayalero competed in 1979 as Miss Departamento Vargas in her country's national beauty pageant,

. She won the crown and the right to represent her country in the

Miss Universe 1979 Miss Universe 1979, the 28th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 20 July 1979 at the Perth Entertainment Centre in Perth, Australia. Margaret Gardiner of South Africa crowned her successor Maritza Sayalero of Venezuela. This marks as the first ...

pageant.

Miss Universe

Sayalero showed enough of her legendary poise to become the indisputable leader of the night, winning the swimsuit, interview and evening gown competitions at the pageant held in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Australia on July 19. She was the first titleholder from

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. Immediately after the live telecast ended, the stage collapsed, as too many journalists and photographers had stormed on to get a photograph of the new queen. She managed to save a contestant (Miss Colombia) from falling into the gaping hole left in the middle of the set. Other delegates, including Miss Turkey and Miss Brazil, fell through the hole and were injured.

Legacy

Her victory began a national interest in beauty in Venezuela. Her name has become synonymous with beauty among

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in th ...

speakers, not only in Venezuela. Following her victory, in the 1980s, many parents named their daughters Maritza after her, especially if they shared the common family surname of Fernandez. At least one ship was named in her honour, ''Maritza Sayalero''.

Life after Miss Universe

Maritza Sayalero is married to Mexican tennis player

and became a naturalized citizen of Mexico. The couple has three children: Rebeca (born 1982), Raúl Alán (born 1984) and Daniel Francisco (1989). Sayalero and her family live in Ensenada,

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. For years she owned a boutique there where she sold her own designs.

References

External links

Miss Universe official history
including photograph

including photograph

1961 births Living people Miss Universe 1979 contestants Miss Universe winners Miss Venezuela winners Naturalized citizens of Mexico People from Caracas Venezuelan beauty pageant winners Venezuelan emigrants to Mexico Venezuelan female models {{venezuela-pageant-bio-stub