Miss World 2002
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Miss World 2002 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Miss World 2002 titleholder – Azra Akın | |
| Date | 7 December 2002 |
| Presenters | |
| Entertainment | |
| Venue | Alexandra Palace, London, United Kingdom |
| Broadcaster | E! |
| Entrants | 88 |
| Placements | 20 |
| Debuts |
|
| Withdrawals |
|
| Returns |
|
| 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, United Kingdom. It was initially intended to be staged in Abuja, but due to religious riots in the nearby city of Kaduna (the "Miss World riots") 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 and others dropping out 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 women 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] It was the first time in 51 years that it was not shown in the UK;[4] no British channel agreed to broadcast the event.[2][5]
Replacements
Miss Bulgaria 2002, Teodora Burgazlieva was replaced by her second runner-up, Desislava Guleva because she did some nude pictures for Club M magazine before winning the Miss Bulgaria 2002 crown.[6]
Miss České republiky 2002, Kateřina Průšová didn't compete internationally due to her English skills. She was replaced by Kateřina Smržová[7]
Miss Germany Wahl 2002, Katrin Wrobel, had to relinquish the crown because she wanted to focus on her modeling career.[8] However her first runner-up, Simone Wolf-Reinfurt, got sick just days before her departure to Nigeria and also was replaced by the second runner-up of Miss Germany Wahl 2002, Indira Selmic.
Miss South Africa 2002 and the third 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 called, Miss Junior South Africa, sent their 2002 winner, Karen Lourens. However Miss World Organization accepted the first runner-up of Miss South Africa 2002, Claire Sabbagha to participate in Miss World 2002 despite being overage.[9]
Miss Ukraine 2002, Olena Stohniy couldn't participate due to the fact that she was overage for Miss World rules, she was just 25 years old.[10] She was replaced by one of her runners-up, Iryna Udovenko.[11]
Debuts, returns, and withdrawals
This edition saw the debut of Albania, Algeria and Vietnam,[12] and the return of The Bahamas, Belize, Curaçao, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Swaziland; Belize, which last competed in 1991, Swaziland in 1999 and The Bahamas, Curaçao, Kazakhstan and Lithuania in 2000.
Austria, Bangladesh, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Hawaii, Iceland, Madagascar, Malawi, Portugal, Sint Maarten, South Korea and Switzerland, withdrew from the competition. Ungfrú Ísland 2002, Sólveig Zophoníasdóttir was dethroned following her nude photos in Playboy magazine. But none of her runners-up accepted the crown for different reasons and disagreements over the winner's contract. Then the organizers picked Eyrun Steinsson as a new representative for Miss World 2002, but she later decided to boycott the contest.[13][14]
Results
Placements
| Placement[15] | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Miss World 2002 |
|
| 1st Runner-Up |
|
| 2nd Runner-Up |
|
| Top 10 |
|
| Top 20 |
|
Continental Queens of Beauty
| Continental Group | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Africa |
|
| Americas |
|
| Asia & Oceania |
|
| Caribbean |
|
| Europe |
|
