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. 71 contestants competed in this year.

Miss Universe 2003
Miss Universe 2003 Amelia Vega
Date3 June 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 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

Notes

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.[4][5] She stayed in Panama until the pageant was over, joined by her boyfriend.

Did not compete:

  •  Algeria - Mounia Achlaf[6]
  •  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.[7]
  •  Chile - No contest due to lack of interest over Miss Universe licence rights.[8]
  •  Cook Islands - Miss Cook Islands 2002, Donna Tuara did not participate due to lack of Sponsorship.
  •  Ghana - No contest due to date changes.[9] The Pageant was postponed until Spring 2004.
  •  Guam - No contest due to lack of Sponsorship.[9]
  •  Honduras - 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.[10] 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.[11] It was finally held a few days before the Miss Universe pageant.[12]
  •  Madagascar - Miss Universe Madagascar (Maduniverse) 2003, Joyce Ramarofahatra did not participate due to lack of Sponsorship.[13]
  •  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 contest due to lack of Sponsorship.
  •  Uruguay - No contest due to the Uruguay Economic Crisis of 2002, marking the suicide of their national director, Jorge Baeza overwhelmed by economic problems.[14]
  •  US Virgin Islands - No contest due to lack of Sponsorship.
  •  Vietnam - The Pageant was postponed until January 2004.[9]

Replacements
  •  Czech Republic - The winner of Miss Czech Republic 2002, Kateřina Průšová didn't compete internationally due to her poor English skills.[15] Her 1st runner-up, Kateřina Smržová replaced her for Miss World 2002 and Miss Universe 2003.[16]
  •  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.[17]
  •  Estonia - The winner of Eesti Miss Estonia 2003, Maili Nomm was unable to compete due to being underage.[18][13] 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.[19] 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.[20][21] 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

Other notes
  • In terms of regional representation, this was one of the most balanced top fives in recent years, with delegates from Africa (South Africa), the Asia-Pacific Region (Japan), Europe (Serbia & Montenegro), South America (Venezuela), and the Caribbean (Dominican Republic) 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.[1][2][3]

General references
  • West, Donald (ed.). "Miss Universe 2003". pageantopolis.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012.

References
  1. "Beauty queen renamed". Taipei Times. Taipei, Taiwan. MediaCorp Channel NewsAsia. May 23, 2003. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. http://www.bellezavenezolana.net/news/2003/dia12.htm
  5. http://www.eluniverso.com/2003/06/01/0001/257/A768BE3856844A859A130FFF601F6B66.html
  6. http://www.bellezavenezolana.net/news/2003/cdic02.htm
  7. http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113786&s=6569bf889569e8133d086455cadf9624&p=3166353&viewfull=1#post3166353
  8. http://lanacion.cl/2003/03/01/nos-quedamos-sin-miss-chile/
  9. http://www.bellezavenezolana.net/news/2003/abril03.htm
  10. http://wvw.nacion.com/ln_ee/2002/septiembre/24/ultima7.html
  11. http://www.bellezavenezolana.net/news/2003/mar03.htm
  12. http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1081597
  13. http://www.bellezavenezolana.net/news/2003/cmarz03.htm
  14. http://www.bellezavenezolana.net/news/2003/dia4.htm
  15. http://revue.idnes.cz/prusova-nejede-na-miss-universe-dnv-/lidicky.aspx?c=A030205_165336_lidicky_jup
  16. http://www.globalbeauties.com/blog/2012/03/from-czechoslovakia-to-czech-to-ceska-a-journey-through-history/
  17. https://www.albawaba.com/entertainment/miss-egypt-forced-give-her-crown-rumors-secret-marriage-surface
  18. http://www.missestonia.ee/29032003.html
  19. http://vsenashimiss.blogspot.com/2014/05/2002.html
  20. http://vsenashimiss.blogspot.com/2014/06/miss-russia-universe-2003.html
  21. https://lenta.ru/russia/2003/05/14/miss/
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