18 year-old Tatana Kucharova won the Miss World 2006 beauty contest Saturday night.

Kucharova defeated 103 other women in voting by a panel of judges and television viewers around the world during a two-hour finals ceremony in the Polish capital.

Kucharova, a tall high-school student with long blond hair, was born in Trnava and grew up in the town of Opocno. She told the judges 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.”

Warsaw is only the second European capital after London to host the Miss World contest, organizers say. The 104 finalists spent the past month touring the Eastern European country’s cities, beaches and countryside.

I had the honor of judging one of these pageants about three  years ago.  It was such a laugh interviewing all of the contestants. I truly heard some of the funniest answers possible.