# Miss Universe 1997

Miss Universe 1997 was the 46th Miss Universe pageant, held on 16 May 1997 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Brook Lee of the United States was crowned by Alicia Machado of Venezuela at the end of the event. Seventy-four delegates competed in this year. This is the first Miss Universe edition to be produced by Donald Trump.

## Background
### Selection of participants
#### Replacements

The winner of Miss Universo Chile 1997, Hetu'u Rapu from Easter Island was replaced by her 1st runner-up, Claudia Delpín because Hetu'u did not meet the age requirement of eighteen to take part at Miss Universe 1997 by seventeen days. The winner of Miss Deutschland 1997, Nadine Schmidt elected not to participate at Miss Universe 1997, and she was replaced by her 3rd runner-up, Agathe Neunen because the other runners-up did not meet the age requirement of 18 to take part at Miss Universe. However, Schmidt later participated at Miss Baltic Sea 1997 and won the crown. Miss Russia 1996, Alexandra Petrova couldn't participate because she was underage at the time, however she attended the contest in Miami as a guest with Russian Organizers. Miss Slovakia 1996, Vladimíra Hreňovčíková elected in November 1996 also couldn't attend the pageant due underage, an emergency Miss Slovakia 1997 pageant was held in April and won by Lucia Povrazníková; however Vladimíra went next year to Miss Universe 1998 were she won Miss Photogenic award. Miss Ukraine 1996, Natalya Shvachko was going to participate in this contest, but however she obtained a Lucrative Modeling Contract with Ford Models in New York in the spring of 1997. and gave up from participating at MU 1997, being replaced by veteran pageant Natalia Nadtochiy due to the realization of the Miss Ukraine 1997 contest in the first week of May 1997; She finally went to Miss Universe 3 years later. Miss Israel 1997, Mirit Greenberg couldn't participate because she was underage and went only to Miss World 1997. Miss Ireland 1996, Niamh Redmond was replaced by her second runner up - Fiona Mullally to Miss Universe 1997, due her poor performance at Miss World 1996 by Irish Organizers.

#### Debuts, returns, and withdrawals

Miss Nicaragua 1996, Luz Maria Sanchez Herdocia did not participate because the television station that ran Miss Nicaragua (Canal 6) declared bankruptcy in April, and therefore they couldn't pay the entry fee. Maryjane McKibben of Western Samoa dropped out of the pageant after two days, she later won the Miss South Pacific Pageant 1997. Miss Great Britain 1996-1997, Elizabeth (Liz) Angela Fuller nor could she attend the MU 1997, because the British national contest was held in Mexico in 1996, and by then, rules of the Miss Universe contest forbade holding national competitions outside the participant country and the organizers were admonished, forcing Liz not to participate in Miami. Miss Norway 1996-1997, Eva Sjoholt did not participate due to her studies of Criminology and the lack of funds and sponsorship. Leoni Boon of Netherlands and Mette Ravn Ibsen of Denmark also had to withdraw from the contest due to lack of money and sponsorship and both competed in Miss Europe 1997 instead, making the first absence of Netherlands in the Miss Universe after 40 years competing. For the second time, Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 1996-1997, Emma Komlosy could not participate at the Miss Universe 1997 due to the lack of money and sponsors and their national contest was not held until 1998. Charlemagne Cassidy of Cook Islands only went to Miss South Pacific Pageant 1997 due lack of funds. Miss Universe Zambia 1997, Kusobile Kamwambi Nor went also to MU 1997 in Miami because her organization did not get the funds and money to compete, in addition to not paying her the promised awards by winning the title. Katia Brisson of Haiti didn't participate due to undisclosed reasons. The Puteri Indonesia 1997 pageant was cancelled due to re-ban of beauty contests in Indonesia in late May 1996 by the Suharto Government due to religious reasons, and whose ban was set up in 2000 after the political transition. Sri Lanka lost their licence for Miss Universe until 2005. Ghana & Cayman Islands didn't hold their national pageants until Summer-Fall 1997.

## Results
### Placements

| Placement | Contestant |
| Miss Universe 1997 | United States – Brook Lee |
| 1st Runner-Up | Venezuela – Marena Bencomo |
| 2nd Runner-Up | Trinidad and Tobago – Margot Bourgeois |
| Top 6 | Curaçao – Verna Vasquez  Italy – Denny Méndez  Panama – Lía Borrero |
| Top 10 | Estonia – Kristiina Heinmets  India – Nafisa Joseph †  Puerto Rico – Ana Rosa Brito Suarez  Sweden – Victoria Lagerström |

## Contestants

Seventy-four contestants competed for the title.
| Country/Territory | Contestant | Age | Hometown |
| Argentina | Nazarena Vanesa González | 22 | Buenos Aires |
| Aruba | Karen-Ann Peterson | 20 | Piedra Plat |
| Australia | Laura Csortan | 20 | Brisbane |
| Bahamas | Nestaea Sealy | 18 | Nassau |
| Belgium | Laurence Borremans | 19 | Wavre |
| Belize | Sharon Dominguez | 22 | Orange Walk |
| Bermuda | Naomi Darrell | 20 | Warwick Parish |
| Bolivia | Helga Bauer | 19 | Santa Cruz dela Sierra |
| Bonaire | Jhane-Louise Landwier | 18 | Kralendijk |
| Brazil | Nayla Micherif | 21 | Ubá |
| British Virgin Islands | Melinda Penn | – | Tortola |
| Bulgaria | Krassmira Todorova | – | Varna |
| Canada | Carmen Kempt | 18 | Red Deer |
| Chile | Claudia Delpín | 18 | Iquique |
| Colombia | Claudia Elena Vásquez | 22 | Medellin |
| Costa Rica | Gabriela Aguilar | 19 | Santa Ana |
| Croatia | Kristina Cherina | 18 | Split |
| Curaçao | Verna Vasquez | 23 | Willemstad |
| Cyprus | Korina Nikolaou | 18 | Larnaca |
| Czech Republic | Petra Minářová | 19 | Prague |
| Dominican Republic | Cesarina Mejía | 20 | Azua |
| Ecuador | María José López | 19 | Quito |
| Egypt | Eiman Abdallah Thakeb | – | Cairo |
| El Salvador | Carmen Carrillo | 19 | San Salvador |
| Estonia | Kristiina Heinmets | 18 | Tallinn |
| Finland | Karita Tuomola | 20 | Kuopio |
| France | Patricia Spéhar | 21 | Paris |
| Germany | Agathe Neuner | 22 | Munich |
| Greece | Elina Zisi | 21 | Athens |
| Guatemala | Carol Aquino | 19 | Chiquimula |
| Honduras | Joselina García | 18 | La Ceiba |
| Hong Kong | Lee San-san | 19 | Hong Kong |
| Hungary | Ildikó Kecan | 19 | Debrecen |
| Iceland | Solveig Lilja Guðmundsdóttir | 20 | Reykjavík |
| India | Nafisa Joseph † | 19 | Bangalore |
| Ireland | Fiona Mullally | 24 | Limerick |
| Israel | Dikla Hamdy | – | Beersheba |
| Italy | Denny Méndez | 18 | Florence |
| Jamaica | Nadine Julian Thomas | 21 | Saint Catherine Parish |
| Lebanon | Dalida Chammai | 23 | Beirut |
| Malaysia | Trincy Low | 21 | George Town |
| Malta | Claire Grech | 21 | San Ġwann |
| Mauritius | Cindy Cesar | 20 | Central de Flacq |
| Mexico | Rebeca Tamez | 21 | Ciudad Victoria |
| Namibia | Sheya Shipanga | 22 | Windhoek |
| New Zealand | Marina McCartney | 20 | Auckland |
| Northern Mariana Islands | Melanie Sibetang | 20 | Saipan |
| Panama | Lía Borrero | 20 | Las Tablas |
| Paraguay | Rosanna Jiménez | – | Encarnación |
| Peru | Claudia Maria Dopf | 20 | Lima |
| Philippines | Abbygale Arenas | 22 | Angeles City |
| Poland | Agnieszka Zielińska | 21 | Poznań |
| Portugal | Lara Antunes | 19 | Lisbon |
| Puerto Rico | Ana Rosa Brito | 26 | San Juan |
| Romania | Diana Maria Urdareanu | 20 | Timișoara |
| Russia | Anna Baitchik | 20 | Saint Petersburg |
| Singapore | Tricia Tan | 24 | Singapore |
| Slovakia | Lucia Povrazníková | 18 | Banská Bystrica |
| South Africa | Mbali Gasa | 21 | Durban |
| South Korea | Lee Eun-hee | 19 | Seoul |
| Spain | Inés Sáinz Esteban | 21 | Bilbao |
| Sweden | Victoria Lagerström | 24 | Stockholm |
| Switzerland | Melanie Winiger | 18 | Locarno |
| Taiwan | Chio Hai Ta | 24 | Taichung |
| Thailand | Sueangsuda Lawanprasert | 19 | Bangkok |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Margot Bourgeois | 24 | Arouca |
| Turkey | Yeşim Çetin | 20 | Istanbul |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | Keisha Delancy | 23 | Grand Turk |
| Ukraine | Natalia Nadtochiy | 21 | Kharkiv |
| United States | Brook Lee | 26 | Pearl City |
| United States Virgin Islands | Vania Thomas | 27 | Charlotte Amalie |
| Uruguay | Adriana Cano | 20 | Montevideo |
| Venezuela | Marena Bencomo | 23 | Valencia |
| Zimbabwe | Lorraine Magwenzi | 22 | Harare |
† = deceased