Johannesburg - Johannesburg's pre-World Cup nip-tuck continues this weekend. The city, which has been blighted by its reputation as a crime hotspot, is out to show the world that it is a desirable destination in its own right, not just a stopover en route to the country's tourist capital, Cape Town.

On Saturday, the City of Gold gets a golden opportunity to flaunt its attractions when it hosts the finals of the 58th Miss World beauty pageant.

One hundred and twelve leggy Misses are in South Africa to do battle for the title of world's most beautiful woman. The winner will be on crowned on Saturday evening at a gala event in Sandton Convention Centre in the city's business district.

Johannesburg Tourism Company (JTC) hopes that the around 1 billion people that are expected to watch the event on television will be as wowed by the city, once dubbed the "gangsta's paradise", as by the contestants.

Johannesburg wasn't the intended backdrop for the 2008 contest, an event that has weathered opprobrium over the decades from activists who consider beauty contests demeaning for women.

The intended venue was Ukraine.

But the brief war between Russia and Georgia in the breakaway Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August led the organizers to yank the event from Ukraine for fears of a regional conflagration.

Hong Kong was next in the running, according to JTC chief executive Lindiwe Mahlangu, but Johannesburg bumped the Asian metropolis by tracking Miss World CEO Julia Morley down to Beijing to sell her on Africa's richest city. South Africa also had some experience in the matter - Miss World was held in the Sun City resort in 2001.

Coming a year and a half before the 2010 football World Cup, the 2008 Miss World gives South Africa the chance to reassure the world yet again that it can successfully host major international events.

With just one day to go, there have been no horror stories of doe-eyed beauties being robbed or ravaged by fearsome tsotsis (thugs).

"I think this city is full of culture. People are are super warm and nice," a slightly-bored looking Miss Chinese Taipei says in a video message on the Miss World website.

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of South Africa's first and last Miss World victory. The winner that year was Penelope Anne Coelen, a comely brunette from the port city of Durban.

South Africans are rooting for local girl Tansey Coetzee, a mixed-race 23-year-old communications student to bring back the sash, like Zhang Zilin, also 23, did last year when China hosted the event.

A bit like the Eurovision Song Contest, the Miss World competition never fails to kindle a swelling of patriotic pride among viewers.

American hearts will be bursting this year when their gal takes to the stage. Her name is Merica Lane Lindell. And she was born - yes, you've guessed it - on the 4th of July.