Scandinavia has given us some good things - snowy weather, good design and spa treatments, to name a few - but by far, the greatest is silvery blonde Victoria Silvstedt. Born in Skellefteå, Sweden, near the Arctic Circle, Victoria was raised in a family of five, and she competed with the youth division of Sweden's National Ski Team. Victoria's Olympic aspirations were lost when an accident and shoulder injury ended her career - but ever resourceful, she turned her attention to a modeling career. "The world thinks everyone in Sweden is tall and blonde," she muses. "When I was younger, I was shy and had low self-confidence. Because of my career, I started to like my body, and today I'm very proud of it." Indeed she should be - Victoria's exemplary sexy body won her a Miss Sweden pageant, contracts with Chanel and Christian Dior, and finally, the attention of one Mr. Hugh Hefner. It wasn't long before she was our Miss December 1996, and a shoe-in for Playmate of the Year 1997. In addition to English and her native Swedish, PMOY Victoria is a fluent speaker of French, and lived in Paris as one of France's most-revered models. "I adore Paris," she says, "But I wasn't where I wanted to be. The whole world watches America, and everything comes from America - fashion, music, movies and TV." With Playboy, Miss Silvstedt achieved her number-one goal - within hours of her pictorial's publication, her photos were all over the Internet and she had a dedicated American fan club. It's no wonder she became Playmate of the Year. "I'm so happy I can't stop smiling," says Victoria. "I want to make all of Sweden proud of me!" First Scandinavia, and then the world - Victoria's taken it all by storm.
