Miss Universe 2003
Miss Universe 2003, the 52nd Miss Universe pageant, was held on 3 June 2003 at the Figali Convention Center in Panama City, Panama. Amelia Vega of the Dominican Republic was crowned by Justine Pasek of Panama as her successor at the end of the event. Pasek was originally the 1st runner-up at the previous year’s competition. But, due to the dethronement of Oxana Fedorova, of Russia, Pasek became the first ever 1st runner-up to officially assume the title of Miss Universe.
This marked the Dominican Republic's debut win at 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.
Results
Placements
Order of announcements
Top 15
- South Africa
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Venezuela
- Greece
- Panama
- Czech Republic
- Namibia
- Canada
- Brazil
- Serbia and Montenegro
- USA
- Angola
- Japan
- Dominican Republic
- Peru
Top 10
- Czech Republic
- Canada
- Brazil
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Serbia and Montenegro
- South Africa
- Namibia
- Venezuela
- Dominican Republic
- Japan
Top 5
- Venezuela
- Japan
- South Africa
- Dominican Republic
- Serbia and Montenegro
Contestants
- ' - Denisa Kola
- ' - Ana Sebastião
- ' - Kai Davis
- ' - Laura Romero
- ' - Malayka Rasmijn
- ' - Ashlea Talbot
- ' - Nadia Johnson
- ' - Nadia Forte
- ' - Julie Taton
- ' - Becky Bernard
- ' - Irene Aguilera
- ' - Gislaine Ferreira
- ' - Elena Tihomirova
- ' - Leanne Marie Cecile
- ' - Nichelle Welcome
- ' - Wu Wei
- ' - Diana Mantilla
- ' - Andrea Ovares
- ' - Ivana Delic
- ' - Vanessa van Arendonk
- ' - Ivi Lazarou
- ' - Kateřina Smržová
- ' - Amelia Vega
- ' - Andrea Jácome
- ' - Nour El-Semary
- ' - Diana Valdivieso
- ' - Katrin Susi
- ' - Anna Maria Strömberg
- ' - Emmanuelle Chossat
- ' - Alexsandra Vodjanikova
- ' - Marietta Chrousala
- ' - Florecita de Jesus Cobian Azurdia
- ' - Leanna Damond
- ' - Viktoria Tomozi
- ' - Nikita Anand
- ' - Lesley Flood
- ' - Sivan Klein
- ' - Silvia Ceccon
- ' - Michelle Lecky
- ' - Miyako Miyazaki
- ' - Keum Na-na
- ' - Elaine Daly
- ' - Marie-Aimée Bergicourt
- ' - Marisol González
- ' - Ndapewa Alfons
- ' - Tessa Brix
- ' - Sharee Adams
- ' - Claudia Salmeron
- ' - Celia Ohumotu
- ' - Hanne-Karine Sørby
- ' - Stefanie de Roux
- ' - Claudia Ortiz de Zevallos
- ' - Carla Gay Sunga Balingit
- ' - Iwona Makuch
- ' - Carla Tricoli
- ' - Olesya Bondarenko
- ' - Sanja Papić
- ' - Bernice Wong
- ' - Petra Mokrošová
- ' - Polona Baš
- ' - Cindy Nell
- ' - Eva González
- ' - Helena Stenbäck
- ' - Nadine Vinzens
- / - Szu-Yu Chen
- ' - Yaowalak Traisurat
- ' - Faye Alibocus
- ' - Özge Ulusoy
- ' - Lilja Kopytova
- ' - Susie Castillo
- ' - Mariángel Ruiz
Returns
- Last competed in 1999:
- * '
- Last competed in 2000:
- * '
- Last competed in 2001:
- * '
- * '
- *
Withdrawals
- ' - Miss Iceland 2002, Manuela Ósk Harðardóttir withdrew from the pageant, when dehydration caused by the weather prevented her from competing in the Preliminaries. She stayed in Panama until the pageant was over, joined by her boyfriend.
- ' - Mounia Achlaf
- ' - Bethsaida Smith - Due to lack of sponsorship.
- ' - Diane Ngo Mouaha - the Miss Cameroon pageant officials showed interest to get the Miss Universe and Miss World licences to send Diane to both pageants, but however the rumors where a hoax.
- ' - No contest due to lack of interest over Miss Universe licence rights.
- ' - Miss Cook Islands 2002, Donna Tuara did not participate due to lack of Sponsorship.
- ' - No contest due to date changes. The Pageant was postponed until Spring 2004.
- ' - No contest due to lack of Sponsorship.
- ' - Eduardo Zablah, by-then director of Miss Honduras Universo pageant lost the Miss Universe licence following sexual harassment accusations among other abuses and breaches by the 2002 winner, Erika Ramirez against his organization. Therefore, Honduras did not participate in Miss Universe until 2007.
- ' - Melanie Putria Dewita Sari
- ' - Pageant Postponed until 2004.
- ' - The Pageant was about to be held in March, but was postponed due to the beginning of the Iraq War. It was finally held a few days before the Miss Universe pageant.
- ' - Miss Universe Madagascar 2003, Joyce Ramarofahatra did not participate due to lack of Sponsorship.
- ' - Tiziana Mifsud - the Miss Malta pageant lost their Miss Universe licence.
- ' - Miss Northern Marianas 2003, Kimberly Nicole Castro Reyes did not participate due to lack of Sponsorship. She Went to Miss World 2003 instead.
- ' - No contest due to lack of Sponsorship.
- ' - No contest due to the Uruguay Economic Crisis of 2002, marking the suicide of their national director, Jorge Baeza overwhelmed by economic problems.
- ' - No contest due to lack of Sponsorship.
- - The Pageant was postponed until January 2004.
Replacements
- ' - The winner of Miss Czech Republic 2002, Kateřina Průšová didn't compete internationally due to her poor English skills. Her 1st runner-up, Kateřina Smržová replaced her for Miss World 2002 and Miss Universe 2003.
- ' - 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.
- ' - The winner of Eesti Miss Estonia 2003, Maili Nomm was unable to compete due to being underage. She went to Miss Europe 2003 instead.
- ' - The winner of Miss Poland 2002, :pl:Marta Matyjasik|Marta Matyjasik decided not to participate in Miss Universe 2003 due to academic reasons. She Went to Miss Earth 2003 instead.
- - 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. Then the Miss Russia organizers held a small contest called Miss Russia Universe 2003 which the winner was Yulia Ahonkova from Moscow, but she was unable to compete in the Miss Universe pageant due to her being underage. In fact she had to be 18 by February 1 of that year, while she turned it on February 5. Yulia participated in Miss Europe 2003 instead. After that, the Miss Russia Organizers chose a 22-year-old model from Nizhny Novgorod - Maria Smirnova to participate in Miss Universe 2003, but the MUO officials rejected her due to her nude pictures for Playboy Russia Magazine of January–February 2000. Finally the Miss Universe Officials accepted the 1st runner up of miss Russia 2002, Olesya Bondarenko from Khabarovsk as the Russian representative at Miss Universe 2003 despite the fact that she wasn't the official national winner.
Country Changes
- Yugoslavia changed its name to Serbia & Montenegro.
Awards
- ' - Miss Congeniality
- ' - Miss Photogenic
- - Best National Costume
Other notes
- In terms of regional representation, this was one of the most balanced top fives in recent years, with delegates from Africa, the Asia-Pacific Region, Europe, South America, and the Caribbean all making the top five. Something similar would happen in 2010, 2011 and in 2014
- 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 while on stage.
General references