Miss Universe 1997 was the 46th Miss Universe pageant, held on 16 May 1997 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Brook Lee of the United States was crowned by Alicia Machado of Venezuela at the end of the event. Seventy-four delegates competed in this year.[1] This is the first Miss Universe edition to be produced by Donald Trump.[2]

Miss Universe 1997
Miss Universe 1997, Brook Lee
Date16 May 1997
Presenters
EntertainmentEnrique Iglesias
VenueMiami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, Florida, United States
BroadcasterCBS (WFOR-TV)
Entrants74
Placements10
Debuts
  • Croatia
Withdrawals
  • Cayman Islands
  • Cook Islands
  • Denmark
  • Ghana
  • Great Britain
  • Indonesia
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Sri Lanka
Returns
  • Bermuda
  • Mauritius
  • United States Virgin Islands
WinnerBrook Lee
United States
← 1996
1998 →

Background

 
Miami Beach Convention Center

Selection of participants

Replacements

The winner of Miss Universo Chile 1997, Hetu'u Rapu from Easter Island was replaced by her 1st runner-up, Claudia Delpín because Hetu'u did not meet the age requirement of eighteen to take part at Miss Universe 1997 by seventeen days.[3][4] The winner of Miss Deutschland 1997, Nadine Schmidt elected not to participate at Miss Universe 1997, and she was replaced by her 3rd runner-up, Agathe Neunen because the other runners-up did not meet the age requirement of 18 to take part at Miss Universe. However, Schmidt later participated at Miss Baltic Sea 1997 and won the crown.

Debuts, returns, and withdrawals

Miss Nicaragua 1996, Luz Maria Sanchez Herdocia did not participate because the television station that ran Miss Nicaragua (Canal 6) declared bankruptcy in April, and therefore they couldn't pay the entry fee.[5] Maryjane McKibben of Western Samoa dropped out of the pageant after two days.

Results

Placements

Placement Contestant
Miss Universe 1997
1st Runner-Up
2nd Runner-Up
Top 6
Top 10

Contestants

 
Countries and territories which sent delegates and results for Miss Universe 1997

Seventy-four contestants competed for the title.

Country/Territory Contestant Age[a] Hometown
  Argentina Nazarena Vanesa González 22 Buenos Aires
  Aruba Karen-Ann Peterson 20 Piedra Plat
  Australia Laura Csortan 20 Brisbane
  Bahamas Nestaea Sealy[6] 18 Nassau
  Belgium Laurence Borremans 19 Wavre
  Belize Sharon Dominguez 22 Orange Walk
  Bermuda Naomi Darrell 20 Warwick Parish
  Bolivia Helga Bauer[7] 19 Santa Cruz dela Sierra
  Bonaire Jhane-Louise Landwier 18 Kralendijk
  Brazil Nayla Micherif 21 Ubá
  British Virgin Islands Melinda Penn[8] Tortola
  Bulgaria Krassmira Todorova Varna
  Canada Carmen Kempt 18 Red Deer
  Chile Claudia Delpín 18 Iquique
  Colombia Claudia Elena Vásquez 22 Medellin
  Costa Rica Gabriela Aguilar 19 Santa Ana
  Croatia Kristina Cherina[9] 18 Split
  Curaçao Verna Vasquez 23 Willemstad
  Cyprus Korina Nikolaou 18 Larnaca
  Czech Republic Petra Minářová 19 Prague
  Dominican Republic Cesarina Mejía 20 Azua
  Ecuador María José López 19 Quito
  Egypt Eiman Abdallah Thakeb Cairo
  El Salvador Carmen Carrillo 19 San Salvador
  Estonia Kristiina Heinmets 18 Tallinn
  Finland Karita Tuomola 20 Kuopio
  France Patricia Spéhar 21 Paris
  Germany Agathe Neuner[10] 22 Munich
  Greece Elina Zisi 21 Athens
  Guatemala Carol Aquino 19 Chiquimula
  Honduras Joselina García 18 La Ceiba
  Hong Kong Lee San-san 19 Hong Kong
  Hungary Ildikó Kecan 19 Debrecen
  Iceland Solveig Lilja Guðmundsdóttir 20 Reykjavík
  India Nafisa Joseph 19 Bangalore
  Ireland Fiona Mullally 24 Limerick
  Israel Dikla Hamdy Beersheba
  Italy Denny Méndez 18 Florence
  Jamaica Nadine Julian Thomas[11] 21 Saint Catherine Parish
  Lebanon Dalida Chammai 23 Beirut
  Malaysia Trincy Low 21 George Town
  Malta Claire Grech 21 San Ġwann
  Mauritius Cindy Cesar 20 Central de Flacq
  Mexico Rebeca Tamez 21 Ciudad Victoria
  Namibia Sheya Shipanga 22 Windhoek
  New Zealand Marina McCartney 20 Auckland
  Northern Mariana Islands Melanie Sibetang 20 Saipan
  Panama Lía Borrero 20 Las Tablas
  Paraguay Rosanna Jiménez Encarnación
  Peru Claudia Maria Dopf[12] 20 Lima
  Philippines Abbygale Arenas 22 Angeles City
  Poland Agnieszka Zielińska 21 Poznań
  Portugal Lara Antunes 19 Lisbon
  Puerto Rico Ana Rosa Brito 26 San Juan
  Romania Diana Maria Urdareanu 20 Timișoara
  Russia Anna Baitchik 20 Saint Petersburg
  Singapore Tricia Tan 24 Singapore
  Slovakia Lucia Povrazníková 18 Banská Bystrica
  South Africa Mbali Gasa 21 Durban
  South Korea Lee Eun-hee 19 Seoul
  Spain Inés Sáinz Esteban 21 Bilbao
  Sweden Victoria Lagerström 24 Stockholm
  Switzerland Melanie Winiger 18 Locarno
  Taiwan Chio Hai Ta 24 Taichung
  Thailand Suangsuda Lawanprasert 19 Bangkok
  Trinidad and Tobago Margot Bourgeois 24 Arouca
  Turkey Yeşim Çetin 20 Istanbul
  Turks and Caicos Islands Keisha Delancy 23 Grand Turk
  Ukraine Natalia Nadtochey 21 Kharkiv
  United States Brook Lee 26 Pearl City
  United States Virgin Islands Vania Thomas 27 Charlotte Amalie
  Uruguay Adriana Cano 20 Montevideo
  Venezuela Marena Bencomo 23 Valencia
  Zimbabwe Lorraine Magwenzi 22 Harare

† = deceased

Notes

  1. ^ Ages at the time of the pageant

References

  1. ^ "Miss Universe 1997 Brook Lee -- Straight Ally for LGBT Equality". The Huffington Post. June 12, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  2. ^ Archives, L. A. Times (1996-10-24). "OTHER NEWS". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  3. ^ "Ganadoras de los años noventa" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  4. ^ "Rapa Nui en la historia de la belleza chilena" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  5. ^ "Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos". Archived from the original on 1999-10-18.
  6. ^ "The women who would be queen". Sun Sentinel. 15 May 1997. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  7. ^ "Helga Bauer pone su sello a la agenda del Alcalde" [Helga Bauer puts her stamp on the Mayor's agenda]. El Nuevo Día (in Spanish). 11 June 2004. Retrieved 1 September 2023 – via Bolivia.com.
  8. ^ "Weighing in on Festival". The BVI Beacon. 13 August 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  9. ^ Plivelić, Petra (17 November 2019). "Koja je prava Miss Hrvatske? Razgovarali smo s tri aktualne misice i vlasnicima direkcija hrvatskih izbora..." [Who is the real Miss Croatia? We talked to three current misses and the owners of the directorates of Croatian elections...]. Jutarnji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  10. ^ "Kür der Miss Bergisch-Land 1999" [Freestyle competition for Miss Bergisch-Land 1999]. Remscheider General-Anzeiger (in German). 13 October 1999. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  11. ^ "Those Who Went Before". Jamaica Observer. 24 January 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  12. ^ "Die neue "Miß Peru" stammt aus Würzburg" [The new "Miss Peru" comes from Würzburg]. Die Welt (in German). 15 November 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2023.