Miss Universe 2003

Miss Universe 2003, the 52nd Miss Universe pageant, was held on June 3, 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.

Miss Universe 2003
Miss Universe 2003 Amelia Vega
DateJune 3, 2003
Presenters
Entertainment
VenueFigali Convention Center, Panama City, Panama
BroadcasterNBC (international)
TVN (official broadcaster)
Entrants71
Placements15
DebutsSerbia and Montenegro
Withdrawals
Returns
WinnerAmelia Vega
 Dominican Republic
CongenialityKai Davis
 Antigua and Barbuda
Best National CostumeAmelia Vega
 Dominican Republic
PhotogenicCarla Tricoli
 Puerto Rico

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.

Results

Placements
Final results Contestant
Miss Universe 2003
1st Runner-Up
2nd Runner-Up
3rd Runner-Up
4th Runner-Up
Top 10
Top 15

Order of announcements

Contestants
Countries and territories which sent delegates and results for Miss Universe 2003

71 contestants competed for the title.[1]

Country/Territory Contestant Age[lower-alpha 1] Hometown
Albania Denisa Kola 20 Peshkopi
Angola Ana Sebastião 19 Luanda
Antigua and Barbuda Kai Davis 23 St. John's
Argentina Laura Romero 22 La Plata
Aruba Malayka Rasmijn 26 Paradera
Australia Ashlea Talbot 19 Sydney
Bahamas Nadia Johnson 21 Eleuthera
Barbados Nadia Forte 20 Bridgetown
Belgium Julie Taton 19 Jambes
Belize Becky Bernard 21 Belize City
Bolivia Irene Aguilera 24 Santa Cruz
Brazil Gislaine Ferreira 19 Belo Horizonte
Bulgaria Elena Tihomirova 22 Panagyurishte
Canada Leanne Marie Cecile 26 Tecumseh
Cayman Islands Nichelle Welcome 23 Bodden Town
China Wu Wei 23 Fuzhou
Colombia Diana Mantilla 21 Bucaramanga
Costa Rica Andrea Ovares 22 San José
Croatia Ivana Delic 23 Rijeka
Curaçao Vanessa van Arendonk 22 Willemstad
Cyprus Ivi Lazarou 20 Limassol
Czech Republic Kateřina Smržová 22 Prague
Dominican Republic Amelia Vega 18 Santiago
Ecuador Andrea Jácome 23 Guayaquil
Egypt Nour El-Semary 22 Cairo
El Salvador Diana Valdivieso 20 Ahuachapán
Estonia Katrin Susi 23 Tallinn
Finland Anna Maria Strömberg 20 Kristinestad
France Emmanuelle Chossat 23 Paris
Germany Alexsandra Vodjanikova 19 Munich
Greece Marietta Chrousala 20 Athens
Guatemala Florecita Cobian 19 Antigua
Guyana Leanna Damond 25 New Amsterdam
Hungary Viktoria Tomozi 20 Budapest
India Nikita Anand 19 New Delhi
Ireland Lesley Flood 21 Limerick
Israel Sivan Klein 19 Jerusalem
Italy Silvia Ceccon 20 Vicenza
Jamaica Michelle Lecky 25 Kingston
Japan Miyako Miyazaki 25 Kumamoto
Malaysia Elaine Daly 26 Kuala Lumpur
Mauritius Marie-Aimée Bergicourt 24 Terre Rouge
Mexico Marisol González 20 Torreón
Namibia Ndapewa Alfons 24 Windhoek
Netherlands Tessa Brix 22 Oud-Beijerland
New Zealand Sharee Adams 23 Auckland
Nicaragua Claudia Salmeron 25 Managua
Nigeria Ohumotu Bissong 19 Yala
Norway Hanne-Karine Sørby 24 Oslo
Panama Stefanie de Roux 20 Panama City
Peru Claudia Ortiz de Zevallos 21 Arequipa
Philippines Carla Gay Balingit 19 Angeles City
Poland Iwona Makuch 21 Kielce
Puerto Rico Carla Tricoli 21 Vieques
Russia Olesya Bondarenko 24 Khabarovsk
Serbia and Montenegro Sanja Papić 19 Novi Sad
Singapore Bernice Wong 25 Singapore
Slovakia Petra Mokrošová 20 Michalovce
Slovenia Polona Baš 21 Maribor
South Africa Cindy Nell 21 Johannesburg
South Korea Keum Na-na 19 Daegu
Spain Eva González 22 Seville
Sweden Helena Stenbäck 23 Piteå
Switzerland Nadine Vinzens 19 Chur
Chinese Taipei Szu-Yu Chen 25 Taipei
Thailand Yaowalak Traisurat 19 Nakhon Si Thammarat
Trinidad and Tobago Faye Alibocus 23 San Fernando
Turkey Özge Ulusoy 20 Istanbul
Ukraine Lilja Kopytova 18 Dnipro
United States Susie Castillo 23 Lawrence
Venezuela Mariángel Ruiz 23 Maracay

Notes
  1. Ages at the time of the pageant

Returns

Withdrawals

During the contest:

  •  Iceland - Miss Iceland 2002, Manuela Ósk Harðardóttir withdrew from the pageant, when dehydration caused by the weather prevented her from competing in the Preliminaries.[2][3] She stayed in Panama until the pageant was over, joined by her boyfriend.

Did not compete:

  •  Algeria - Mounia Achlaf[4]
  •  British Virgin Islands - Bethsaida Smith - Due to lack of sponsorship.
  •  Cameroon - 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.The country would only enter Miss Universe for the first time, 17 years later in 2020.[5]
  •  Chile - There was no tender this year, because the franchisee did not renew the license agreement and nobody was interested in it.[6]
  •  Cook Islands - Miss Cook Islands 2002, Donna Tuara did not participate due to lack of Sponsorship.
  •  Ghana - The pageant was postponed several times.[7]
  •  Guam - No contest due to lack of Sponsorship.[7]
  •  Honduras - Eduardo Zablah, 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.[8] Therefore, Honduras did not participate in Miss Universe until 2007.
  •  Indonesia - Melanie Putria Dewita Sari
  •  Kenya - Pageant Postponed until 2004.
  •  Lebanon - The Pageant was about to be held in March, but was postponed due to the beginning of the Iraq War.[9] It was finally held a few days before the Miss Universe pageant and the winner was send to Miss Universe 2004.[10]
  •  Madagascar - Miss Universe Madagascar (Maduniverse) 2003, Joyce Ramarofahatra did not participate due to lack of Sponsorship.[11]
  •  Malta - Tiziana Mifsud - the Miss Malta pageant lost their Miss Universe licence.
  •  Northern Marianas - Miss Northern Marianas 2003, Kimberly Nicole Castro Reyes did not participate due to lack of Sponsorship. She Went to Miss World 2003 instead.
  •  Portugal - No pageant due to lack of Sponsorship.
  •  Uruguay - No pageant due to the 2002 Uruguay banking crisis,what led its national director Jorge Baeza to commit suicide.[12]
  •  US Virgin Islands - No pageant due to lack of Sponsorship.
  •  Vietnam - The Pageant was postponed until January 2004.[7]

Replacements
  •  Czech Republic - The winner of Miss Czech Republic 2002, Kateřina Průšová didn't compete internationally due to her poor English skills.[13]
  •  Egypt - 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.[14]
  •  Estonia - The winner of Eesti Miss Estonia 2003, Maili Nomm was unable to compete due to being underage.[15][11] She went to Miss Europe 2003 instead.
  •  Poland - The winner of Miss Poland 2002, Marta Matyjasik decided not to participate in Miss Universe 2003 due to academic reasons. She Went to Miss Earth 2003 instead.
  •  Russia - 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.[16] Then the Miss Russia organizers held a small pageant 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.[17][18] 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.until then respecting the rules in force.Bondarenko was the only nominated candidate at the pageant at this year.

Country Changes
  • Yugoslavia changed its name to Serbia & Montenegro.

Awards

Other notes
  • Reflecting the expansion from 10 to 15 semifinalists, this edition is marked by the diversity in this group, there were 8 candidates from the Americas, 4 from the Asia-Africa-Pacific group and 3 from Europe. Similar situations occurred in 2004,2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015 pageants.
  • 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.[19][20][21]

General references
  • West, Donald (ed.). "Miss Universe 2003". pageantopolis.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

References
  1. "Miss Universe (2003)". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. June 2, 2003. Retrieved May 30, 2022.
  2. "BELLEZA VENEZOLANA presente en MISS UNIVERSO 2003" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2018-09-14. Retrieved 2017-08-13.
  3. "Candidata de Islandia eliminada de Miss Universo" (in Spanish). El Universo. 1 June 2003. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  4. "Concursos de Diciembre 2002" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  5. "The Beauty Pageants Thread - II — Pageants and Queens".
  6. "Nos quedamos sin Miss Chile" (in Spanish). 1 March 2003. Archived from the original on 2017-08-03. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  7. "Noticias de Abril 2003" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  8. "Acusan a Señorita Honduras 2001 de ser nicaragüense" (in Spanish). 24 September 2002. Archived from the original on 17 October 2017.
  9. "Noticias de Marzo". Archived from the original on 2016-08-06. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  10. "The Winner Of Miss Lebanon 2003 Is..." www.airliners.net. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  11. "Concursos de Marzo" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2018-05-16. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  12. "BELLEZA VENEZOLANA presente en MISS UNIVERSO 2003". Archived from the original on 2018-09-16. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  13. "Průšová nejede na Miss Universe". 5 February 2003.
  14. "Miss Egypt forced to give up her crown as rumors of 'secret' marriage surface".
  15. "Eesti Miss Estonia".
  16. "Все Наши Мисс: Мисс Россия 2002".
  17. "Miss Russia Universe 2003".
  18. "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.
  19. "Beauty queen renamed". Taipei Times. Taipei, Taiwan. MediaCorp Channel NewsAsia. May 23, 2003. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  20. Lim Kuan Chiang (June 2, 2003). "They've got the looks". MediaCorp. Singapore. Archived from the original on October 7, 2011. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  21. Double sash at Miss Universe 2003 Archived 2007-10-14 at the Wayback Machine Taiwan-Info.de Retrieved 2010-09-19. Picture of Szu-Yu Chen with the Chinese Taipei and Taiwan sashes.
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