Miss World 2002

Miss World 2002
Miss World 2002 Titlecard
Date	7 December 2002
Presenters	Sean Kanan, Claire Elizabeth Smith
Entertainment	Chayanne, BBMak
Venue	Alexandra Palace, London, UK
Broadcaster	Five
Entrants	88
Placements	20
Debuts	Albania, Algeria, Vietnam
Withdraws	Austria, Bangladesh, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Hawaii, Iceland, Korea, Malawi, Portugal, Sint Maarten, Switzerland
Returns	Bahamas, Belize, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Swaziland
Winner	Azra Akın  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 88 contestants from all over the world competed for the crown, 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. 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. Azra Akın from Turkey won the pageant, becoming the first ever representative from her country to be crowned Miss World. She was crowned by Agbani Darego of Nigeria.

Results

Placements

Final results	Contestant
Miss World 2002	Turkey – Azra Akın
1st runner-up	Colombia – Natalia Peralta
2nd runner-up	Peru – Marina Mora
3rd runner-up	Norway – Kathrine Sørland
4th runner-up	China PR – Wu Yingna
Top 10	Australia – Nicole Rita Gazal  Nigeria – Chinenye Ochuba  Philippines – Katherine Anne Manalo  United States – Rebekah Revels  Venezuela – Goizeder Azúa
Top 20	Aruba – Rachelle Oduber  Bosnia & Herzegovina – Daniela Vinš  Curacao – Ayanette Statia  Netherlands – Elise Boulogne  India – Shruti Sharma  Italy – Suzanne Zuber  Puerto Rico – Cassandra Polo  Russia – Anna Tatarintseva  Vietnam – Phạm Thị Mai Phương  FR Yugoslavia – Ana Šargić

Note - The official site listed Norway as 3rd runner-up and China PR as 4th runner-up, but the Miss World final telecast only announced the winner, and 2 runners-up.

Continental Queens of Beauty

Continental Group	Contestant
Africa	Nigeria – Chinenye Ochuba
Americas	Colombia – Natalia Peralta
Asia & Oceania	China PR – Wu Yingna
Caribbean	Aruba – Rachelle Oduber
Europe	Turkey – Azra Akın

Special awards

Award	Contestant
Best World Dress Designer	Turkey – Azra Akın
Miss Talent	United States – Rebekah Revels
Miss World Scholarship	Swaziland – Nozipho Shabangu

Order of announcements

Top 20

1. Turkey 2. Netherlands 3. Nigeria 4. Colombia 5. Puerto Rico

6. China PR 7. Yugoslavia 8. Russia 9. Peru 10. Norway

11. Vietnam 12. India 13. Curaçao 14. Aruba 15. Australia

16. Philippines 17. Bosnia & Herzegovina 18. Italy 19. Venezuela 20. United States

Top 10

1. Australia 2. China PR 3. Colombia 4. Nigeria 5. Norway

6. Peru 7. Philippines 8. Turkey 9. United States 10. Venezuela

Contestants

Albania – Anjeza Maja  Algeria – Lamia Saoudi  American Virgin Islands – Hailey Cagan  Angola – Rosa Mujinga Muxito  Antigua & Barbuda – Zara Razzaq  Argentina – Tamara Henriksen  Aruba – Rachelle Oduber  Australia – Nicole Rita Gazal  Bahamas – T'Shura Ambrose  Barbados – Natalie Webb-Howell  Belgium – Sylvie Doclot  Belize – Karen Russell  Bolivia – Alejandra Montero  Bosnia & Herzegovina – Daniela Vinš  Botswana – Lomaswati Dlamini  Brazil – Taíza Thomsen  Bulgaria – Desislava Antoniya Guleva  Canada – Lyndsey Bennett  Chile – Daniela Casanova  China PR – Wu Yingna  Colombia – Natalia Peralta  Croatia – Nina Slamić  Curaçao – Ayanette Statia  Cyprus – Angela Droudsioutou  Czech Republic – Kateřina Smržová  Ecuador – Jessica Angulo  England – Daniella Luan  Estonia – Triin Sommer  Finland – Hanne Hynnynen  France – Caroline Chamorand  Germany – Indira Selmic  Ghana – Shaida Buari  Gibraltar – Damaris Hollands  Greece – Katerina Georgiadou  Guyana – Odessa Phillips  Holland – Elise Boulogne  Hong Kong – Victoria Jane Jolly  Hungary – Renata Rosz  India – Shruti Sharma  Ireland – Lynda Duffy  Israel – Karol Lowenstein  Italy – Susanne Zuber  Jamaica – Danielle O'Hayon  Japan – Yuko Nabeta

Kazakhstan – Olga Sidorenko  Kenya – Maryanne Kariuki  Lebanon – Bethany Kehdy  Lithuania – Oksana Semenišina  Macedonia FYRO – Jasna Spasovska  Malaysia – Mabel Ng  Malta – Joyce Gatt  Mexico – Blanca Zumárraga  Namibia – Ndapewa Alfons  New Zealand – Rachel Huljich  Nicaragua – Hazel Calderón  Nigeria – Chinenye Ochuba  Northern Ireland – Gayle Williamson  Norway – Kathrine Sørland  Panama – Yoscelin Sánchez  Peru – Marina Mora  Philippines – Katherine Anne Manalo  Poland – Marta Matyjasik  Puerto Rico – Cassandra Polo  Romania – Cleopatra Popescu  Russia – Anna Tatarintseva  Scotland – Paula Murphy  Singapore – Sharon Cintamani  Slovakia – Eva Verešová  Slovenia – Nataša Krajnc  South Africa – Claire Sabbagha  Spain – Lola Alcocer  Swaziland – Nozipho Shabangu  Sweden – Sophia Hedmark  Tahiti – Rava Maiarii  Tanzania – Angela Damas Mtalima  Thailand – Ticha Leungpairoj  Trinidad & Tobago – Janelle Rajnauth  Turkey – Azra Akın  Uganda – Rehema Ni Nakuya  Ukraine – Iryna Udovenko  United States – Rebekah Revels  Uruguay – Natalia Figueras  Venezuela – Goizeder Azúa  Vietnam – Phạm Thị Mai Phương  Wales – Michelle Bush  FR Yugoslavia – Ana Šargić  Zimbabwe – Linda van Beek

Notes

Debuts

•  Albania
•  Algeria
•  Vietnam

Returning countries and territories

Last competed in 1991:

•  Belize

Last competed in 2000:

•  Bahamas
•  Curaçao
•  Kazakhstan
•  Lithuania

Withdraws

•  Bangladesh
•  British Virgin Islands
•  Dominican Republic
•  Hawaii
•  Malawi
•  Portugal
•  Sint Maarten

Boycott

Boycotting nations and contestants:

•  Austria – Celine Roschek
•  Costa Rica – Shirley Álvarez
•  Denmark – Masja Juel
•  Iceland – Eyrún Steinsson
•  Mauritius – Karen Alexandre
•  Sri Lanka – Nilusha Gamage
•   Switzerland – Nadine Vinzens

Boycotting contestants (replaced by national directors):

•  Belgium – Ann Van Elsen
•  Germany – Katrin Wrobel
•  Italy – Pamela Camassa
•  South Africa – Karen Lourens
•  South Africa – Vanessa Carreira

Boycotting contestants (joined in London):

•  Canada – Lynsey Ann Bennett
•  Panama – Yoscelin Sánchez
•  Spain – Lola Alcocer
•  Tahiti – Rava Maiarii

Withdrew during the pageant:

•  Korea – Chang Yoo-kyoung

Historical signifinance

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.^[1][2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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.^[6][7][8][9] 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 favorite for the crown she had previously boycotted.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

References

External links

• Pageantopolis - Miss World 2002

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