South Africa's Rolene Strauss Wins Miss World 2014 Crown

Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, won the Miss World 2014 title at the contest's extravagant finale in London on Sunday.

With an estimated global audience of one billion, 22-year-old Rolene Strauss received huge cheers in the ExCeL exhibition centre as she was crowned by the outgoing Miss World, Megan Young of the Philippines, writes the Daily Mail.

The bilingual beauty queen is a fourth year medical student and can speak fluent English as well as Afrikaans.

In her website, Strauss explains how she's always had "big dreams."

"We moved to a small town called Volksrust, in Mpumalanga. Ever since then I was a small town girl with big dreams.

"To be the best me, to follow my destiny and someday be a woman who uses what she was given out of grace; to inspire, to love, to sympathize and to give."

After being crowned, she paid tribute to her country: "South Africa this is for you. I think I will brace myself for what's about to happen. It's a huge responsibility."

Strauss is the third South African to win Miss World, the country having held the title in 1958 and 1974.

President Jacob Zuma said she had "demonstrated the capability of South Africans to shine on the world stage" according to BBC News.

Her victory is trending on Twitter in the country, with many users posting with the hashtag #proudlySouthAfrican.

More than 120 countries were represented at this year's Miss World pageant. Edina Kulcsar of Hungary was the runner-up and Elizabeth Safrit of the United States took third place.