Czech Republic's Taťána Kuchařová wins Miss World 2006 beauty contest Kuchařová, a tall high-school student with long blond hair, was born in Trnava and grew up in the town of Opočno. She told the judges that she wants to attend university and then become a model. She likes tennis and horse riding and her personal motto is "Always be an optimist."

Well, this must be a boon to all the matchmaking agencies in Prague and expats living there will have something to point out when they extoll the beauty of Czech women. Other than that I find the winner's crowned picture slightly disturbing in its syntheticity (if that's a word). It is also interesting that she was representing the subregion of Eastern Europe, although Czechs would much rather see themselves as Central European.

Czech media is understandably extatic pointing out that this is the first time a Czech woman even got close to winning - eventhough in 1995 there was a Czech Miss Europe:

Soutěž Miss World se koná od roku 1951 a největšího úspěchu tu doposud dosáhla v roce 1998 první Vicemiss ČR Alena Šeredová, když obsadila čtvrté místo. Zvítězit v mezinárodním klání se naposledy podařilo Monice Žídkové, která se v roce 1995 stala Miss Europe. iDness