Miss Universe 2003
Miss Universe 2003 | |
---|---|
Date | June 3, 2003 |
Presenters | |
Entertainment | |
Venue | Figali Convention Center, Panama City, Panama |
Broadcaster | NBC (international) TVN (official broadcaster) |
Entrants | 71 |
Placements | 15 |
Debuts | Serbia and Montenegro |
Withdrawals | |
Returns | |
Winner | Amelia Vega Dominican Republic |
Congeniality | Kai Davis Antigua and Barbuda |
Best National Costume | Amelia Vega Dominican Republic |
Photogenic | Carla Tricoli Puerto Rico |
Miss Universe 2003, the 52nd Miss Universe pageant, was held on June 3, 2003 at the Figali Convention Center in Panama City, Panama.[1] Amelia Vega of the Dominican Republic was crowned by Justine Pasek of Panama as her successor at the end of the event.
This is the 1st time that Dominican Republic has been crowned Miss Universe. 71 contestants competed in this year. This is the second time that Panama hosted the contest, the last occasion being in 1986. The pageant final was held at Figali Convention Center in Panama City.
This was the first Miss Universe edition to be aired on NBC.
Background
Selection of participants
Contestants from 71 countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant. Five delegates were appointees to their position to replace the original dethroned winner.
The winner of Miss Czech Republic 2002, Kateřina Průšová was replaced by Kateřina Smržová due to her poor English skills.[2] Miss Egypt 2003, Horreya Farghally decided to give up the crown following several rumors of secret marriage, affecting her reputation's credibility receiving criticism by the press. Farghally was replaced by Nour El-Semary.[3] The winner of Eesti Miss Estonia 2003, Maili Nomm was replaced by Katrin Susi due to being underage.[4] The winner of Miss Poland 2002, Marta Matyjasik decided not to participate in Miss Universe 2003 due to academic reasons. Matyjasik was replaced by Iwona Makuch.
Initially, the winner of Miss Russia 2002, Svetlana Koroleva was supposed to participate in Miss Universe 2003, but she went to Miss Europe 2002 in Lebanon and won the crown, making her unable to participate at Miss Universe.[5] Then, the Miss Russia organizers held a small pageant called Miss Russia Universe 2003 which was won by Yulia Ahonkova. However, she was also unable to compete in the Miss Universe pageant due to her being underage. After that, the Miss Russia Organizers chose Maria Smirnova, a 22-year-old model from Nizhny Novgorod, to participate in Miss Universe 2003, but the MUO officials rejected her due to her nude pictures for Playboy Russia.[6][7] With a few days to go before the end of entries, the Miss Universe Organization announced that it would accept the entry of Oksana Bondarenko, runner-up of Miss Russia 2002.
The 2003 edition saw the debut of Serbia and Montenegro, and the returns of Argentina, Barbados, Belize, New Zealand, and Chinese Taipei. Barbados last competed in 1999, Belize in 2000, while the others last competed in 2001. The British Virgin Islands, Chile, Ghana, Honduras, Kenya, the Northern Mariana Islands, Portugal, the US Virgin Islands, and Uruguay withdrew. Bethsaida Smith of the British Virgin Islands and Kimberly Castro of the Northern Mariana Islands withdrew due to lack of sponsorship. Chile, Ghana, Honduras, Kenya, Portugal, the US Virgin Islands, and Uruguay withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.[8]
Miss Iceland 2002, Manuela Ósk Harðardóttir withdrew from the pageant, when dehydration caused by the weather prevented her from competing in the Preliminaries.[9][10] She stayed in Panama until the pageant was over, joined by her boyfriend. Donna Tuara of the Cook Islands and Joyce Ramarofahatra of Madagascar did not participate due to lack of sponsorship. Tiziana Mifsud of Malta did not compete after the Miss Malta pageant lost their Miss Universe licence. Mounia Achlaf of Algeria and Melanie Putria Dewita Sari of Indonesia withdrew due to undisclosed reasons.
Results
Placements
Final results | Contestant |
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Miss Universe 2003 | |
1st Runner-up | |
2nd Runner-up |
|
3rd Runner-up | |
4th Runner-up | |
Top 10 |
|
Top 15 |
|
Special awards
Award | Contestant |
---|---|
Miss Photogenic |
|
Miss Congeniality |
|
Best National Costume |
Contestants
71 contestants competed for the title.[11]
Notes
- ^ Ages at the time of the pageant
- ^ Yugoslavia changed its name to Serbia & Montenegro.
- ^ Due to China's obstruction, Taiwan was forced to change her sash label to Chinese Taipei. However, pageant organizers allowed Szu-Yu Chen to use the Taiwan sash while off of the stage, but the Chinese Taipei sash during the public activities.
References
- ^ "Panama gets ready to crown new Miss Universe". Hindustan Times. 3 June 2003. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ "Průšová nejede na Miss Universe" [Průšová is not going to Miss Universe]. iDNES.cz (in Czech). 5 February 2003. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
- ^ "Miss Egypt forced to give up her crown as rumors of 'secret' marriage surface". Retrieved 23 July 2017.
- ^ "Eesti Miss Estonia".
- ^ "Все Наши Мисс: Мисс Россия 2002".
- ^ "Miss Russia Universe 2003".
- ^ "Lenta.Ru: В РОССИИ: "Мисс Россия" не поедет на конкурс "Мисс Вселенная-2003" из-за журнала Playboy". lenta.ru. Archived from the original on 2003-06-04.
- ^ "Acusan a Señorita Honduras 2001 de ser nicaragüense" (in Spanish). 24 September 2002. Archived from the original on 17 October 2017.
- ^ "BELLEZA VENEZOLANA presente en MISS UNIVERSO 2003" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2018-09-14. Retrieved 2017-08-13.
- ^ "Candidata de Islandia eliminada de Miss Universo" (in Spanish). El Universo. 1 June 2003. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
- ^ "Miss Universe (2003)". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. June 2, 2003. Retrieved May 30, 2022.
- ^ "Laura Romero: una chica normal" [Laura Romero: a normal girl]. La Prensa Panamá (in Spanish). 23 August 2003. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
- ^ Sto. Domingo, Joseph (March 17, 2003). "Brains before beauty: In this year's Bb. Pilipinas, the smart ones win the titles". Manila Standard. pp. 17–18. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
- ^ "Beauty queen renamed". Taipei Times. Taipei, Taiwan. MediaCorp Channel NewsAsia. May 23, 2003. Retrieved 2010-09-19.