Latvia’s Ieva Kokoreviča, a 19-year-old from Rīga, has a 40-1 chance of winning the Miss Universe contest on May 30, according to oddsmakers and online casino Sportsbook.com.

Renata Sone from the Dominican Republic and Cynthia Olavarria from Puerto Rico are the surest bets, both listed at 12-1 odds. Miss Angola, Zenilde Josias, is the long shot at 250-1 odds.

The Miss Universe contest takes place in Bangkok, Thailand.

Kokoreviča, a public relations and advertising student, is the first representative from Latvia ever to the Miss Universe contest. (However, she’s not the first Latvian to participate. In 1963, 19-year-old Mārīte Ozere of Chicago won the Miss USA competition. She was the first naturalized American to compete. Ozere went on to represent the United States in that year’s Miss Universe pageant, making it to the semi-finals, according to Pageant Almanac.)

In her biography, Kokoreviča describes herself as independent.

“My parents had to work a lot,” Kokoreviča says, “which helped me become independent and accomplish my goals by myself.”

But, Ieva, what’s with the “national costume” we see you modeling? Sorry, but slapping a shield-sized sakta on a red dress does not make a national costume to us.

UPDATE 30 May 2005: It’s a good thing we didn’t put money on Latvia. Kokoreviča made it into the top 10, but did not advance to the final. And while Miss Dominican Republic and Miss Puerto Rico were among the five finalists, the title of Miss Universe went to Miss Canada, the Russia-born Natalie Glebova.

Andris Biedriņš, the towering 19-year-old from Latvia who was last year’s first round draft pick by the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association, is described as “baby-faced” in an April 13 article in the San Jose Mercury News.

Biedriņš plays center for the California-based team.

Biedriņš’ initial three-year contract is worth USD 4.6 million, according to the National Basketball Players Association’s rookie pay scale. No wonder he’s been able to afford a Porsche and a 23rd floor apartment in Oakland, Calif.

Thanks to Jānis Dabars of Indiana for forwarding the story.

Flipping through the television channels tonight, we came across the broadcast in the United States of the Mrs. World beauty pageant. We stayed around long enough to learn that Mrs. Latvia, Iveta Sinepa, hadnt made it to the 12 semi-finalists.

The 31-year-old Sinepa, along with other contestants, was not making too much news, according to a quick scan of the Web. Except, that is, in India, where the contest was held. The India Times, for example, had a section devoted to the competition where one could learn about all the candidates, including Sinepa. And if you didn’t want to sit through the entire telecast, you could just check the Times of India, which already had the story that Mrs. Israel had won the contest.