Miss Universe 1997

Miss Universe 1997
Date	May 16, 1997
Presenters	George Hamilton, Marla Maples Trump
Entertainment	Enrique Iglesias
Venue	Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, FL
Broadcaster	CBS
Entrants	74
Placements	10
Debuts	Croatia
Withdraws	Cayman Islands, Denmark, Great Britain, Indonesia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Sri Lanka, Western Samoa
Returns	Bermuda, Mauritius, US Virgin Islands
Winner	Brook Lee USA
Congeniality	Laura Csortan  Australia
Best National Costume	Claudia Vásquez  Colombia
Photogenic	Abbygale Arenas  Philippines

Countries and territories which sent delegates and results.

Miss Universe 1997 pageant was held in Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, USA, culminating in the final competition on May 16, 1997. This was the second consecutive year that the pageant had been held in the United States. Miss USA, Brook Lee of Hawaii was crowned Miss Universe 1997 by previous titleholder, Alicia Machado of Venezuela. Lee was the seventh delegate from the United States to win the pageant; more Miss USA's have won the title than delegates from any other country. There were seventy-four delegates who competed for the crown.

The pageant hosts were Marla Maples Trump, wife of the then-new owner of the Miss Universe Organization, Donald Trump and George Hamilton. Entertainment was provided by Enrique Iglesias.

Results

Placements

Final results	Contestant
Miss Universe 1997	USA - Brook Mahealani Lee
1st runner-up	Venezuela - Marena Bencomo
2nd runner-up	Trinidad & Tobago - Margot Bourgeois
Top 6	Curaçao - Verna Vasquez  Italy - Denny Méndez  Panama - Lía Victoria Borrero
Top 10	Estonia - Kristiina Heinmets  Puerto Rico - Ana Rosa Brito  Sweden - Victoria Lagerström  India - Nafisa Joseph

Semifinal Scores

Country Interview Swimsuit Evening Gown Average Top 6 Finalists  Italy 9.543 (2) 9.614 (2) 9.764 (2) 9.640 (1) 9.450 (5)  Curaçao 9.443 (3) 9.623 (1) 9.799 (1) 9.621 (2) 9.629 (4)  USA 9.614 (1) 9.500 (3) 9.683 (4) 9.599 (3) 9.881 (1)  Venezuela 9.060 (10) 9.471 (4) 9.729 (3) 9.420 (4) 9.829 (2)  Trinidad & Tobago 9.343 (5) 9.271 (6) 9.600 (5) 9.405 (5) 9.643 (3)  Panama 9.386 (4) 9.229 (7) 9.443 (7) 9.352 (6) 9.143 (6)  Estonia 9.143 (9) 9.357 (5) 9.417 (8) 9.306 (7)  Puerto Rico 9.271 (6) 9.043 (8) 9.471 (6) 9.262 (8)  Sweden 9.229 (7) 8.929 (10) 9.271 (9) 9.143 (9)  India 9.157 (8) 9.043 (8) 9.129 (10) 9.110 (10)

Winner      First Runner-up      Second Runner-up      Top 6 Finalist      Top 10 Semifinalist (#) Rank in each round of competition

Special Awards

Award	Contestant
Best National Costume	Colombia - Claudia Vásquez  Honduras - Joselina García  Peru - Claudia Dopf
Miss Congeniality	Australia - Laura Csortan
Miss Photogenic	Philippines - Abbygale Arenas
Jantzen Best in Swimsuit	Curaçao - Verna Vasquez

Judges

Telecast Judges

• Cristina Saralegui – Cuban talk show host.
• Tommy Ford – African-American actor.
• Eva Herzigova – Czech model and actress.
• Pat O'Brien – Sportscaster.
• Monique Pillard – Modeling agent.
• James E. Billie – Former Seminole leader.
• Ingrid Seynhaeve – Belgian model.
• Mike Love – American singer/songwriter.
• Carolina Herrera – Fashion designer.

Contestants

Argentina - Nazarena Almada  Aruba - Karen-Ann Peterson  Australia - Laura Csortan  Bahamas - Nestaea Sealy  Belgium - Laurence Borremans  Belize - Sharon Dominguez  Bermuda - Naomi Darrell  Bolivia - Helga Bauer  Bonaire - Jhane Landwier  Brazil - Nayla Micherif  British Virgin Islands - Melinda Penn  Bulgaria - Krassmira Todorova  Canada - Carmen Kempt  Chile - Claudia Delpin  Colombia - Claudia Vásquez  Costa Rica - Gabriela Aguilar  Croatia - Kristina Cherina  Curaçao - Verna Vasquez  Cyprus - Korina Nikolaou  Czech Republic - Petra Minářová  Dominican Republic - Cesarina Mejia  Ecuador - María José López  Egypt - Eiman Thakeb  El Salvador - Carmen Carrillo  Estonia - Kristiina Heinmets  Finland - Karita Tuomola  France - Patricia Spehar  Germany - Agathe Neuner  Greece - Elina Zisi  Guatemala - Carol Aquino  Honduras - Joselina García  Hong Kong - Lee San-San  Hungary - Ildikó Kecan  Iceland - Solveig Guðmundsdóttir  India - Nafisa Joseph  Ireland - Fiona Mullally  Israel - Dikla Hamdy

Italy - Denny Méndez  Jamaica - Nadine Thomas  Korea - Lee Eun-hee  Lebanon - Dalida Chammai  Malaysia - Trincy Lowe  Malta - Claire Grech  Mauritius - Cindy Cesar  Mexico - Rebeca Tamez  Namibia - Sheya Shipanga  New Zealand - Marina McCartney  Northern Marianas - Melanie Sibetang  Panama - Lía Borrero  Paraguay - Rosanna Giménez  Peru - Claudia Dopf  Philippines - Abbygale Arenas  Poland - Agnieszka Zielinska  Portugal - Lara Antunes  Puerto Rico - Ana Rosa Brito  Romania - Diana Maria Urdareanu  Russia - Anna Baitchik  Singapore - Tricia Tan  Slovakia - Lucia Povrazníková  South Africa - Mbali Gasa  Spain - Inés Sáinz  Sweden - Victoria Lagerström  Switzerland - Melanie Winiger  Taiwan ROC - Chio Hai Ta  Thailand - Suangsuda Rodprasert  Trinidad & Tobago - Margot Bourgeois  Turkey - Yeşim Çetin  Turks & Caicos - Keisha Delancy  Ukraine - Natalia Nadtochey  Uruguay - Adriana Cano  USA - Brook Lee  US Virgin Islands - Vania Thomas  Venezuela - Marena Bencomo  Zimbabwe - Lorraine Magwenzi

Preliminary scores

Rank Country Swimsuit Interview Evening Gown Average 01 Curacao 9.36 9.37 9.53 9.420 02 Panama 8.98 9.62 9.40 9.333 03 USA 9.11 9.56 9.04 9.237 04 Italy 9.31 8.73 9.47 9.170 05 Trinidad & Tobago 8.61 9.59 9.19 9.130 06 Venezuela 8.44 9.50 9.31 9.083 07 Estonia 9.19 8.79 9.23 9.070 08 Sweden 8.59 9.26 9.10 8.983 09 Puerto Rico 8.44 9.42 9.05 8.970 10 India 8.86 9.25 8.79 8.967 11 Philippines 8.73 9.31 8.81 8.950 12 Costa Rica 8.76 9.06 9.01 8.943 13 Australia 8.58 9.29 8.85 8.907 14 Czech Republic 8.63 9.15 8.86 8.880 15 New Zealand 8.67 9.32 8.59 8.860 16 Mexico 8.26 9.26 9.04 8.853 17 Switzerland 8.68 9.29 8.59 8.853 18 Finland 8.75 8.82 8.98 8.850 19 Iceland 8.71 8.69 9.07 8.823 20 Colombia 8.18 9.45 8.81 8.813 21 Israel 8.81 8.74 8.85 8.800 22 Poland 8.40 8.83 8.77 8.667 23 Ukraine 8.08 8.95 8.88 8.637 24 Thailand 8.21 9.16 8.54 8.637 25 South Africa 7.97 9.29 8.62 8.627 26 Ireland 8.46 9.16 8.23 8.617 27 Germany 8.52 8.73 8.54 8.597 28 Turkey 8.23 8.83 8.67 8.577 29 Hungary 8.55 8.72 8.46 8.577 30 Jamaica 7.96 9.21 8.43 8.533 31 Honduras 8.05 8.88 8.66 8.530 32 El Salvador 8.00 9.22 8.31 8.510 33 Spain 8.09 8.93 8.46 8.493 34 Malaysia 8.00 8.96 8.39 8.450 35 Zimbabwe 8.09 9.03 8.23 8.450 36 France 8.36 8.57 8.39 8.440 37 Portugal 7.94 9.01 8.34 8.430 38 Chile 8.26 8.69 8.32 8.423 39 Ecuador 7.95 8.93 8.33 8.403 40 Cyprus 8.06 8.72 8.42 8.400 41 US Virgin Islands 7.73 9.23 8.24 8.400 42 Dominican Republic 7.66 9.40 8.12 8.393 43 Slovak Republic 8.40 8.04 8.72 8.387 44 Lebanon 7.86 8.70 8.49 8.350 45 Hong Kong 7.88 8.96 8.15 8.330 46 Russia 8.23 8.73 8.00 8.320 47 Guatemala 7.57 8.98 8.40 8.317 48 Bolivia 7.92 8.89 8.11 8.307 49 Belgium 8.34 8.23 8.19 8.253 50 Singapore 7.81 8.58 8.23 8.207 51 Peru 7.59 8.82 8.15 8.187 52 Belize 7.83 8.54 8.19 8.187 53 Romania 8.15 8.37 7.99 8.170 54 Namibia 7.78 8.74 7.98 8.167 55 Taiwan ROC 7.68 8.48 8.29 8.150 56 Brazil 7.67 8.81 7.95 8.143 57 Paraguay 7.29 9.04 7.98 8.103 58 Uruguay 7.45 8.53 8.31 8.097 59 Croatia 7.96 7.89 8.39 8.080 60 Canada 7.54 8.67 7.99 8.067 61 Aruba 7.57 8.56 8.05 8.060 62 Korea 7.67 8.26 8.23 8.053 63 Argentina 7.39 8.73 8.00 8.040 64 Greece 7.54 8.46 7.94 7.980 65 Bulgaria 8.19 7.39 8.15 7.910 66 Egypt 7.31 8.58 7.80 7.897 67 Bahamas 7.58 8.19 7.90 7.890 68 Bonaire 7.69 8.29 7.64 7.873 69 British Virgin Islands 7.36 8.33 7.64 7.777 70 Malta 7.19 8.28 7.83 7.767 71 Northern Marianas 7.08 8.61 7.57 7.753 72 Turks & Caicos 7.26 8.61 7.32 7.730 73 Mauritius 7.48 8.15 7.54 7.723 74 Bermuda 7.14 8.29 7.46 7.630

Winner      First Runner-up      Second Runner-up      Top 6 Finalist      Top 10 Semifinalist

Records and Trivia

• Maryjane McKibbin representing Western Samoa dropped out of the pageant after only 2 days.^[1]
• Estonia placed for the first time, having first competed in 1993.
• Verna Vasquez's finalist placement was Curaçao's second highest (the island had placed first runner-up in 1968).
• George Hamilton, when announcing the Top 10, accidentally said 1970 instead of 1997.
• One of the top six, Lía Borrero of Panama later competed in Miss International in 1998 and won the crown.
• One of the Semifinalists, Nafisa Joseph from India, committed suicide in 2004.
• Vania Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands also represented the islands in Miss World 1989 and was a finalist.
• An episode of The Nanny featured the Miss Universe episode in Miami. It featured Miss Universe '96 Alicia Machado and Miss Universe '97 Brooke Lee.

References

1. ^ Western Samoa comes and goes!!