# Miss Universe 1985

Miss Universe 1985 was the 34th Miss Universe pageant, held on 15 July 1985 at the James L. Knight Convention Center in Miami, Florida, United States. Seventy-nine contestants competed in the pageant. Deborah Carthy-Deu of Puerto Rico was crowned by Yvonne Ryding of Sweden.

## Background
### Location and date

In October 1984, the owners of the newly expanded West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada showed an interest in hosting the Miss Universe 1985 pageant there. This followed an unsuccessful attempt to host the Miss Universe 1984 pageant in Calgary, Alberta, Canada the previous year.
Pageant organizers chose to host the pageant in Miami, Florida for the second consecutive year. George Honchar, president of Miss Universe Inc., expressed disappointment at a lack of local support for the event, which cost the city $2 million.

### Selection of participants

In April, 1985 the city of Miami requested that the Miss Universe organization insist that South Africa should not send a representative to pageant, due to the threat of demonstrations over her country's Apartheid policy. In mid May the nation announced that they would not send their titleholder, Andrea Steltzer, to the pageant because of fears for her safety. This was the first time since 1975 that the country did not participate in the pageant; they would not return to the event until 1995. Andrea Steltzer (half South African and half German) took part as Miss Germany in the 1989 Miss Universe pageant where she was a semi-finalist.

## Results
### Placements

| Placement | Contestant |
| Miss Universe 1985 | Puerto Rico – Deborah Carthy Deu |
| 1st runner-up | Spain – Teresa Sánchez López |
| 2nd runner-up | Zaire – Benita Murekatete |
| 3rd runner-up | Venezuela – Silvia Martinez |
| 4th runner-up | Uruguay – Andrea Lopez |
| Top 10 | Brazil – Márcia Gabrielle  Canada – Karen Tilley  Chile – Claudia van Sint Jan  Ireland – Olivia Tracey  United States – Laura Herring |

## Contestants

* Argentina - Yanina Castaño
* Australia - Elizabeth Rowly
* Austria - Martina Haiden
* Bahamas - Cleopatra Adderly
* Barbados - Elizabeth Wadman
* Belgium - Anne van der Broeck
* Belize - Jennifer Woods
* Bermuda - Jannell Nadra Ford
* Bolivia - Gabriela Orozco
* Brazil - Márcia Gabrielle
* British Virgin Islands - Jennifer Leonora Penn
* Canada - Karen Elizabeth Tilley
* Cayman Islands - Emily Hurston
* Chile - Claudia Emilia van Sint Jan del Pedregal
* Colombia - Sandra Eugenia Borda Caldas
* Cook Islands - Essie Apolonia Mokotupu
* Costa Rica - Rosibel Chacón Pereira
* Curaçao - Sheida Weber
* Cyprus - Andri Andreou
* Denmark - Susan Rasmussen
* Dominica - Margaret Rose Cools Lartigue
* Dominican Republic - Melba Vicens Bello
* Ecuador - María Elena Stangl
* El Salvador - Julia Haydee Mora
* England - Helen Westlake
* Finland - Marja Kinnunen
* France - Suzanne Iskandar
* Gambia - Batura Jallow
* West Germany - Stefanie Angelika Roth
* Gibraltar - Karina Hollands
* Greece - Sabina Damianidis
* Guam - Lucy Carbollido Montinola
* Guatemala - Perla Elizabeth Prera Frunwirth
* Haiti - Arielle Jeanty
* Holland - Brigitte Bergman
* Honduras - Diana Margarita García
* Hong Kong - Shallin Tse Ming
* Iceland - Hana Bryndis Jonsdóttir
* India - Sonu Walia
* Ireland - Olivia Marie Tracey
* Israel - Hilla Kelmann
* Italy - Anne Beatrice Popi
* Japan - Hatsumi Furusawa
* KOR - Choi Young-ok
* Lebanon - Joyce Sahab
* Luxembourg - Gabrielle Chiarini
* Malaysia - Agnes Chin
* Malta - Fiona Micallef
* Mexico - Yolanda de la Cruz
* New Zealand - Claire Glenister
* Northern Marianas - Antoinette Marie Flores
* Norway - Karen Margrethe Moe
* Panama - Janette Iveth Vásquez Sanjur
* Papua New Guinea - Carmel Vagi
* Paraguay - Beverly Ocampo
* Peru - María Gracia Galleno
* Philippines - Joyce Burton
* Poland - Katarzyna Zawidzka
* Portugal - Alexandra Gomes
* Puerto Rico - Deborah Carthy-Deu
* Réunion - Dominique de Lort Serignan
* Scotland - Jacqueline Hendrie
* Senegal - Chantal Loubelo
* Singapore - Lyana Chiok
* Spain - Teresa Sánchez López
* Sri Lanka - Ramani Liz Bartholomeusz †
* Sweden - Carina Marklund
* Tahiti - Hinarii Kilian
* Thailand - Tarntip Pongsuk
* Trinidad and Tobago - Brenda Joy Fahey
* Turks and Caicos - Miriam Coralita Adams
* Uruguay - Andrea López
* United States - Laura Herring
* U.S. Virgin Islands - Mudite Alda Henderson
* Venezuela - Silvia Martínez
* Wales - Barbara Christian
* Western Samoa - Tracy Mihaljevich
* Yugoslavia - Dinka Delić
* Zaire - Kayonga Benita Mureka Tete