New Miss Universe is trumpeted on Aphrodite's Isle

This millennium's first Miss Universe was crowned at first light this morning on Aphrodite's Isle, mocking the choice of the Greek goddess of love during the world's first beauty contest which, legend says, was held on the island of Cyprus by the gods three millenniums ago.

The deed was done at Eleftheria (Freedom) Stadium in the capital, not on the Paphos coast where Aphrodite was born. The set, specially created for the pageant, was a reproduction of the Curium Theatre, a lovely 1,900-year-old Roman ampitheatre set into a steep hillside overlooking a broad blue bay east of the place where the goddess rose from the white foam lapping the rocky Mediterranean shore.

While the stadium was chosen because it holds more spectators than the Curium, where annual Shakespeare and jazz festivals are staged, fewer than half the tickets were sold, compelling cut-rate prices on the eve of the event.

The crowning of the winner did not even capture the dramatic gold and rose sunrise over Nicosia, as the stadium is enclosed. But then the affair was not really designed for romantics in Cyprus, it was engineered to secure prime-time television audiences in the US and around the world.

An estimated 2.5 billion people in 124 countries were expected to view the show. The New York multi-millionaire, Mr Donald Trump, whose organisation runs the contest, flew into Cyprus yesterday to trump the dawn.

The host, the Cyprus Tourism Minister, Mr Nicos Rolandis, paid out $5 million to secure the event with the object of increasing tourism to an island where there are twice as many visitors - 2.5 million - as residents and water is rationed due to five years of drought.

Seventy-nine young women between the ages of 18 and 25 represented their countries in the 49th Miss Universe contest. Ireland's entry, Louise Doheny (19), is an engineering student from Co Tipperary.

Miss Universe was chosen from 10 unnamed finalists selected last Sunday when they paraded in swimsuits, evening wear and outrageously stylised national costumes. Appropriately, the master of ceremonies was Mr Ronn Moss, who stars as Ridge in The Bold and the Beau- tiful US television soap, which is madly popular in Cyprus. He was perfect: Miss Universe being, of course, the ultimate one-off soap event.

The Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus protested against mammon's invasion of Aphrodite's Isle by holding an overnight vigil at a parish dedicated to the Virgin near the stadium.