Miss World 2002

Miss World 2002
Miss World 2002 Titlecard
Date	7 December 2002
Presenters	Sean Kanan,[1] Claire Elizabeth Smith
Entertainment	Chayanne, BBMak
Venue	Alexandra Palace, London, UK
Broadcaster	E!, Channel 5
Entrants	88
Placements	20
Debuts	Algeria, Vietnam
Withdrawals	Austria, Costa Rica, Denmark, Iceland, Guatemala, Korea, Hawaii, Malawi, Mauritius, Sri Lanka St. Maarten, Switzerland.
Returns	Bahamas, Kazakhstan, Swaziland.
Winner	Azra Akın [2]  Turkey

Miss World 2002, the 52nd edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 7 December 2002 at the Alexandra Palace in London, UK. It was initially intended to be staged in Abuja, Nigeria, but due to religious riots in the nearby city of Kaduna the pageant was relocated to London.

A total of 110 contestants from all over the world were initially invited to compete for the crown, but several contestants boycotted the pageant in protest for the death sentence by stoning determined by an Islamic Sharia court to Amina Lawal, a Nigerian woman accused of adultery, making a total of 88 girls competing for the crown. It was the first time that audience participation through text messaging together with the scores of the judges helped in determining the results for the Top 20.^[3] Azra Akın from Turkey won the pageant,^[2] becoming the first ever representative from her country to be crowned Miss World. She was crowned by Agbani Darego of Nigeria. Show organizers stated that the event had a global viewership of over 2 billion people, and that it was broadcast in 137 countries.^[2]

Results

Countries and territories which sent delegates and results^[2][3]

Placements

Continental Queens of Beauty

Contestants

88 contestants participated in Miss World 2002.^[3]

Withdrawals during the contest

•  Guatemala – Paula Margarita Alonso Morales
•  Korea – Yu-Kyung Chang - She withdrew during the Miss World riots in Nigeria, with no intentions of return.
•  Malawi – Blandina Mlenga
•  Mauritius – Karen Alexandre
•  Sri Lanka – Nilusha Gamage

Withdrawals, but later re-incorporated into the contest after moved to London

•  Canada – Lynsey Bennett
•  Panama – Yoselin Sánchez Espino
•  Spain – Lola Alcocer
•  Tahiti – Rava Maiarii

Boycotting due Amina Lawal case

•  Austria – Celine Roschek
•  Costa Rica – Shirley Alvarez Sandoval
•  Denmark – Masja Juel
•  Iceland – Eyrun Steinsson
•   Switzerland – Nadine Vinzens

Also boycotting but never invited:

•  Côte d'Ivoire – Yannick Azebian
•  Togo – Sandrine Akuvi Agbokpe

Invited but never confirmed

•  Bangladesh - No contest
•  Belarus - Volha Nevdakh
•  British Virgin Islands - No contest
•  Cameroon - Diane Ngo Mouaha
•  Dominican Republic - No contest
•  Egypt - Ines Gohar
•  Hawaii
•  Moldova - No contest
•  Morocco - Doja Lahlou
•    Nepal - No contest
•  Paraguay
•  Portugal - No contest
•  Sint Maarten
•  Zambia - No contest

Replacements

•  American Virgin Islands – Cubie-Ayah George
•  Argentina – Daniela Estefania Puig
•  Bulgaria – The winner of Miss Bulgaria 2002, Teodora Burgazlieva was replaced by her 2º Runner up - Desislava Guleva due the fact that she did some nude pictures for men magazzine - Club M beforing wining Miss Bulgaria 2002 crown.^[4]

•  Belgium – Miss Belgium 2002, Ann Van Elsen was refused to participate in protest of the conviction of Amina Lawal.
•  Czech Republic – The winner of Miss Czech Republic 2002, Kateřina Průšová didn't compete internationally due her poor English skills.^[5] Her 1st runner-up, Kateřina Smržová replace her for Miss World 2002 and Miss Universe 2003 contests. ^[6]

•  Germany – The winner of Miss Germany Wahl 2002, Katrin Wrobel relinquish the crown due that she wanted to focus on her modeling and professional career.^[7] However her 1º runner up, Simone Wolf-Reinfurt got sick just days before her departure to Nigeria and was remplaced by the 2º runner up of Miss Germany Wahl 2002, Indira Selmic.
•  Iceland – The winner of Ungfrú Ísland.is 2002 (Miss World Iceland), Sólveig Zophoníasdóttir was dethroned due her nude photos in the Playboy magazzine. But none of her runner ups accepted the crown due differents reasons and by disagreements over the winner's contract. Then the organizers picked Eyrun Steinsson as the Icelandic representative for Miss World 2002, but she later she decided boycott the contest. ^[8][9]
•  Italy – The winner of Miss Mondo Italia 2002, Pamela Camassa resigned of her crown due that she wanted a normal life. Her 1º runner up, Susanne Zuber take her duties.^[10]
•  South Africa – Miss South Africa 2002 & 3º runner up of Miss Universe 2002, Vanessa Carreira was unable to go to Miss World 2002 as the Miss South Africa 2003 contest was 1 day after the Miss World 2002 contest and she had to crown her successor. Also she refused to participate in protest of the conviction of Amina Lawal. Another South African pageant organization - Miss Junior South Africa, sent their 2002 winner - Karen Lourens. However MWO accepted the first runner up of Miss SA 2002, Claire Sabbagha to participate in Miss World 2002 despite being overage.^[11]
•  Ukraine – The winner of Miss Ukraine 2002, Olena Stohniy couldn't participate due that she was overaged for Miss World rules, she just 25 years old.^[12] She was remplaced by one of Miss Ukraine 2002 contest runner up - Iryna Udovenko.^[13]

Historical significance

In the year leading up the finals in Nigeria, several European title holders lobbied their governments and the EU parliament to support Amina's cause.^[14][15] A number of contestants followed the lead of Kathrine Sørland of Norway in boycotting the contest (despite the controversy Sørland went on to become a semi-finalist in both the Miss World and Miss Universe contest), while others such as Costa Rica were instructed by their national governments and parliaments not to attend the contest. Among the other boycotting nations were Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, Panama, Belgium and Kenya. There was further controversy over the possibly suspended participation of France and South Africa, which may or may not have been due to the boycott.^[16] For her part, Lawal asked that contestants not suspend their participation in the contest, saying that it was for the good of her country and that they could, as the representative of Sweden had earlier remarked, make a much stronger case for her on the ground in Nigeria.^[17]

Despite the increasing international profile the boycott was garnering in the world press, the contest went ahead in Nigeria after being rescheduled to avoid taking place during Ramadan, with many prominent nations sending delegates. Osmel Sousa of Venezuela, one of the world's most influential national directors, famously said "there is no question about it (the participation of Miss Venezuela in the contest)." The trouble did not end there, however. A Thisday (Lagos, Nigeria) newspaper editorial suggesting that Muhammad would probably have chosen one of his wives from among the contestants had he been alive to see it, resulted in inter-religious riots that started on 22 November in which over 200 people were killed in the city of Kaduna, along with many houses of worship being burned by religious zealots.^[18] Because of these "Miss World riots", the 2002 pageant was moved to London, following widely circulated reports that the representatives of Canada and Korea had withdrawn from the contest and returned to their respective countries out of safety concerns. A fatwa urging the beheading of the woman who wrote the offending words, Isioma Daniel, was issued in Nigeria, but was declared null and void by the relevant Saudi Arabian authorities.^{[19][20][21][22]} Upon the pageant's return to England, many of the boycotting contestants chose to attend, including Miss Norway, Kathrine Sørland, who was ironically tipped in the last few days as the number one favourite for the crown she had previously boycotted.^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

References

External links

• Pageantopolis – Miss World 2002