Eighteen seconds of Samoa was beamed to more than a billion people worldwide.
That is the bottom-line achievement by Miss Samoa, Alofa Dawn Latafale Auva’a at the 2015 Miss World competition.
As one of the top five finalists in the Talent section, her Samoan Siva performance was beamed live; and as a top-10 ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ finalist, her Book project was also broadcasted live. She was the only contestant to appear twice in that respect during the live broadcast of the final in the weekend.
But there is more to Latafale’s achievement than the secured 18 seconds of invaluable promo time for Samoa the destination. The one fact recorded in the 2015 event: in the Five Challenge Events before the finals, Miss Samoa Latafale Auva’a appeared in three finals, the most by any contestant in the pageant.
The Five Challenge Events are awarded points that go into the ranking of the 117 contestants. Latafale made the finals in: Talent (5), Sports (5), and Beauty with a Purpose (7). Only Russia who came second overall (1st runner-up) and Jamaica (Top 5 overall) that managed to make two Challenge Events finals came close to Latafale.
Eventual winner Miss Spain appeared in only one Challenge Event final, winning the Top Model category; while pre-pageant favourites, India (1), England (0) and USA (0) were well behind Latafale going into Saturday’s final.
The brief analysis spotlights the magnitude of this young Samoan woman’s achievement and reveals yet again the undoubted talent and potential small Pacific island nations possess in this sector. The achievement also highlights the support provided by Latafale’s committee headed by Miss World Samoa national director, Ulalemamae Te’eva Matafai which can only be described as world class – and justifies the decision to miss the Miss Pacific Islands pageant earlier this month.
In many respects, Latafale’s performance draws a close parallel to the Japan rugby team’s achievement at the Rugby World Cup held in England, October this year.
A rugby ‘minnow’ with only one pool match victory in the history of the tournament, they signalled their 2015 campaign in the most emphatic style by doubling that victory statistic with the greatest upset in rugby history by defeating two-time world cup winner South Africa.
That win sparked a glorious journey that culminated with three wins out four matches. But as fate would have it, and which is similar to Latafale’s journey; three wins out of four were not enough to make the knock-out stage.
However, what they achieved was announce the coming of age of Japan rugby. A team that shed its ‘minnow’s’ tag with aplomb, showcasing that its latest upgrade version is one that all test-playing nations will need to take seriously. Those who don’t will do so at their peril. At home, their 2015 world cup campaign raised rugby’s national profile guaranteeing support from the nation and legions of youngsters lining up with aspirations to be the next ‘Goromaru’.
This is the same potential that Latafale’s performance has created for Miss Samoa World and future Miss Samoa.
She’s raised Samoa from the ‘minnow’ beauty tag on the global stage. Pageant judges and administrators now have a benchmark for Miss Samoa. Quite possibly extending that awareness to other women from the Pacific region considering Miss Guam was placed 3rd in the Sports event; and Miss France, represented by Miss Tahiti Hinarere Taputu made it all the way to the Top 10 in this year’s pageant.
The judges will now be expecting the same type of confidence and poise, the same type of Pasifika cultural uniqueness and talent, the same type of quality and outlook. That is the bar Latafale has set, a foundation for future Miss Samoa to launch into the elite level where there is familiarity from judges and audience, and expectation for Miss Samoa to be categorised amongst the front-runners.
She has improved the profile of Miss Samoa World by a huge margin.
A profile where judges are now aware of Miss Samoa before she appears. They will have a mental profile where in a field of 120 nations, they may well place a mark pre-pageant and say, our next Miss World could be Miss Samoa. And when it happens – no one will be surprised. But undoubtedly there is a lot of hard and long-term work to do for that to solidify.
But the hard groundbreaking work has been done. It is now up to the nation of Samoa to provide that support, like the Japanese people is now putting behind their rugby team; to ensure more young women have aspirations to become Ambassadors and Marketing executives for their country in the future.
Latafale and her entourage will be flying back from Sanya, China.
As she arrives back in New Zealand, in Auckland, her persona will have changed from the experience and level of achievements. However, what will not have changed much are her core ideals and love for Samoa as described by Ulalemamae Te’eva before their departure to Miss World.
“She’s a great example of the idea that it’s not just about physical beauty. She’s deep. She’s spiritual, empowering and a young woman filled with humility.
“She plays touch rugby, can sing and can speak a couple of languages. It’s her heart that shines more than anything.”