Miss Costa Rica Competes For Miss Universe Crown Tonight

Miss Costa Rica 2011 Johanna Solano poses in her swimsuit during the Miss Universe preliminary competition in Sao Paulo September 8, 2011. The contestants are in Sao Paulo for the 2011 Miss Universe pageant which will be held on September 12.

Miss Costa Rica is an annual national beauty pageant that selects Costa Rica's representative to the Miss Universe pageant since 1954.

The current titleholder is from Heredia. She won the title in a nationally televised event on March 25, 2011.

Miss Universe is an annual international beauty contest run by the Miss Universe Organization. The pageant is the most publicized beauty contest in the world with 600 million viewers.

The contest was founded in 1952 by California clothing company Pacific Mills. The pageant became part of Kayser-Roth and then Gulf and Western Industries, before being acquired by Donald Trump in 1996.

In 1998, Miss Universe changed its name from Miss Universe, Inc. to Miss Universe Organization and the headquarters moved from Los Angeles, California, to New York City that year. Donald Trump brought in a new team of professionals to the contest headed by its new CEO, Molly Miles, and president Maureen Reidy. The contest would use the slogan "Redefined for Today" for promotion of the pageants.

The current Miss Universe is Ximena Navarrete, from Mexico. She won the title on August 23, 2010.

The United States has performed the best throughout the pageant's entire history, with seven winners. After the US, Venezuela is the next most successful nation in terms of overall placements in the semi-finals (36); it is followed in turn by Brazil, Colombia, and Sweden (29 each), Germany (21), Israel (20), England and India (19 both), Finland, Greece, Japan, Puerto Rico, and South Africa (18 each), Canada, Mexico, Norway, and Peru (16 each). Of these countries, only England has yet to win the contest (though now competes as part of Great Britain or United Kingdom)

Colombia had three first runner-up placements in a row (1992–1994). Also, between 1996 and 1998, Venezuela had three consecutive placements in the top two with Alicia Machado winning the crown in 1996 and the first runner-up the next two years being Venezuelan. Both streaks have been unparalleled in competition history.