Oxana Fedorova (Oksana Fyodorova, Оксана Фёдорова in Russian) (born December 17, 1977) is a Russian Miss Universe winner (dethroned), police officer, television hostess, actress, and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Fedorova is a Russian woman who became the first Miss Russia to win the Miss Universe contest. She began in the entertainment business as a model and became Miss St. Petersburg in 1999 and Miss Russia in 2001, but declined to go to the Miss Universe 2001 pageant (where her runner-up Oxana Kalandyrets was a semifinalist).
Early life

[edit] Childhood

Oxana Fedorova was born in Pskov, Russia, where she lived until she was 18. Fedorova is an only child, and she was brought up by her mother and maternal grandparents. According to Fedorova, her grandparents were very demanding of her.

Fedorova's parents divorced when she was three years old. She has not heard from her father since.

Her father was a nuclear physicist, and her mother worked as a nurse at a Psychiatric hospital (she is retired.) In school, Fedorova played volleyball and her team won the championship in the urban tournament in 1995. At the police academy, Fedorova played the saxophone as a member of the brass band.

[edit] Cadet and beauty queen

After graduating from the police academy with a red diploma, Fedorova worked as an inspector in the Pskov militia for six months. Following her time with the force, Fedorova moved to St. Petersburg to study at the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) University, where she worked as an investigator at the Pulkovo Transport Police whilst studying. Fedorova also began to work as a model and started joining beauty pageants. She was named Miss St. Petersburg 1999, Miss Kalokagathia 1999, Miss Fitness, Miss Fortune, and Miss Russia 2001. Fedorova graduated from the MVD University with a gold medal in 2000. After that, Fedorova entered a post graduate course at the same university. When Fedorova was writing the dissertation regulating privacy and security activities there, she taught Civil law to younger students. Fedorova's biggest fan base was among police colleagues.

[edit] Miss Universe 2002

[edit] Competition

The 2002 Miss Universe contest was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Federova won both the swimsuit and evening gown segments by a large margin over the other nine semi-finalists. In fact, her score of 9.88 in the swimsuit competition was the highest televised score for that event in the history of the pageant.

[edit] After crowning

Upon being crowned Miss Universe 2002, Fedorova was showered with honors and gifts. Noted Russian doll designer Helen Yarmak even dedicated a doll to her. Fedorova traveled to France, Italy, Kenya, Canada, Greece, Panama, Indonesia, and Puerto Rico as Miss Universe 2002. Controversy soon loomed ahead for Fedorova, however, as she was later rumored to be pregnant.

[edit] Dethroned

Fedorova denied the pregnancy rumors and stated that she voluntarily gave up her crown for personal reasons, mainly because she wanted to finish her law degree. Officially, she was dethroned for failing to perform the numerous duties expected of a Miss Universe titleholder. At the time she stated in an interview that she had declined to perform her duties because she was so insulted by her treatment on The Howard Stern Show. She blamed the pageant organizers for not warning her of the frequently profane Stern commentary, of which she, as a foreigner, had no prior knowledge. The crown was passed on to Panama's Justine Pasek, the first runner-up, who consequently became her country's first Miss Universe.

Fedorova was the first Miss Universe who officially did not finish her reign (although the very first Miss Universe, Armi Kuusela, gave up her title a month before her reign ended and Amparo Muñoz of Spain was "unofficially" dethroned in 1974). Although the Miss Universe Organization refuses to recognize Fedorova as a former Miss Universe, she is generally regarded as one by the public.

[edit] Police officer

Fedorova obtained a Ph.D in Civil Law in December 2002.[1] Fedorova is continuing her career as a police officer and was promoted to the ranks of Captain in September 2002 and Major in 2005.[2]

[edit] Celebrity

Since the end of her reign, Fedorova became a household name in Russia by hosting the country's most popular children's television show, Spokoinoi Nochi, Malyshi ("Good Night, Children") since December 2002.[3]

In October 2003, Spokoinoi Nochi, Malyshi won the a TEFI award for Best Children's Show. (TEFI are Russian television production awards.)