PRAGUE, Czech -- Natalia Belan is one special woman. It’s not just that the 18-year-old is a beauty, and the winner of a Miss World beauty contest held in Prague last month. It’s that she also happens to be Deaf.
The native of Melitopol in Zaporizhzhya Oblast won the Miss Deaf World competition in the Czech capital on July 19, fending off close competitors from Belarus and Vietnam. The competition this year was a special one as well – the jubilee 15th year of the event, which was first held in 2001.
“I had an excellent impression of the competition – everyone performed at the highest level,” Belan told the Kyiv Post.
This isn’t the first time the Ukrainian woman has been a winner: She studied at the Kamenka boarding school for Deaf children, which is famous at home and abroad for its dance group, which has won numerous competitions. Belan herself is a keen dancer, and is especially fond of oriental styles of dance.
On the way to her victory in Prague, Belan first won the Ukrainian Society of the Deaf UTOG’s regional beauty contest in Zaporizhzhya, and then went on to win the national competition Miss UTOG 2015. After that, she went on to represent Ukraine at the world and European finals of the competition, in which Ukraine has traditionally done well, Belan said.
In fact, Ukraine has pretty much dominated the event over the past 15 years, taking the top spot in the founding year 2001, then again in 2003, 2009, and now in 2015. Ukraine also came second in 2006, and took third in 2002, 2004, 2007, and 2012. Ukraine also won Miss Deaf Europe in 2012 – a competition that has been held since 2009.... Read The Full Story.
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