Miss World 1992

Miss World 1992
Miss World 1992 Titlecard
Date	12 December 1992
Presenters	Billy Dee Williams, Jerry Hall, Doreen Morris, Suanne Braun, Deborah Shelton
Venue	Sun City Entertainment Center, Sun City, South Africa
Broadcaster	SABC
Entrants	83
Placements	10
Debuts	Croatia, Russia, Slovenia, Ukraine
Withdraws	Belize, Ghana, Honduras, Kenya, Yugoslavia
Returns	Bermuda, Canada, Hong Kong, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Zambia
Winner	Julia Kourotchkina  Russia

Countries and territories which sent delegates and results.

Miss World 1992, the 42nd Miss World pageant was held on December 12, 1992 in Sun City Entertainment Center, Sun City, South Africa. The winner was Julia Alexandrovna Kourotchkina from Russia.

Results

Finals results	Contestant
Miss World 1992	Russia - Julia Kourotchkina
1st Runner-up	United Kingdom - Claire Elizabeth Smith
2nd Runner-up	Venezuela - Francis Gago
Top 5	Poland - Ewa Wachowicz  South Africa - Amy Kleinhans
Top 10	Bahamas - Jody Weech  Denmark - Anja Hende Brond  Finland - Petra von Hellens  Israel - Ravit Asaf  United States - Sharon Belden

Order of Semi-finalists

1. Finland 2. Venezuela 3. Denmark 4. United Kingdom 5. Russia

6. Bahamas 7. South Africa 8. United States 9. Israel 10. Poland

Order of Finalists

• 1. Russia
• 2. Poland
• 3. South Africa
• 4. United Kingdom
• 5. Venezuela

Special awards

• Best National Costume: Nina Khilji (Canada)
• Miss Personality: Ana María Johanis (Guatemala)
• Miss Photogenic: Ravit Asaf (Israel)

Continental Queens

• Africa: Amy Kleinhans (South Africa)
• Americas: Francis Gago (Venezuela)
• Asia & Oceania: Metinee Kingpayome (Thailand)
• Caribbean: Jody Weech (Bahamas)
• Europe: Julia Kourotchkina (Russia)

83 Contestants

Nation	Contestant	Hometown
American Virgin Islands	Leah Webster	St. Thomas
Argentina	Claudia Andrea Bertona	Cordoba
Aruba	Solange Noelle Nicolaas	Savaneta
Australia	Rebecca Simic	Sydney
Austria	Kerstin Kinberg	Graz
Bahamas	Jody Barbara Weech	Bimini
Belgium	Sandra Joine	Antwerp
Bermuda	Dianne Lorraine Mitchell	Pembroke
Bolivia	Veronica Pino	Tarija
Brazil	Priscilla Maria Furlan	Sao Paulo
British Virgin Islands	Bisa Smith	Tortola
Bulgaria	Elena Draganova	Sofia
Canada	Nina Khilji	Toronto
Cayman Islands	Pamela Joanne Ebanks	Grand Cayman
Chile	Paula Caballero Fernandez	Santiago
China, Republic of	Cheng Wei-Wei	Taipei
Colombia	Wguerddy Alejandra Oviedo Vargas	Santa Fe
Costa Rica	Marisol Soto Alarcon	San Jose
Croatia	Elena Suran	Dubrovnik
Curaçao	Cristina Bakhuis	Willemstad
Cyprus	Maria Kountouris	Nicosia
Czechoslovakia	Gabriela Harsanyova	Košice
Denmark	Anja Hende Brond	Aalborg
Dominican Republic	Gina Maria Rojas Mañon	Concepción de La Vega
Ecuador	Stephanie Krumholz de Menezes	Guayaquil
El Salvador	Raquel Cristina Duran	San Salvador
Finland	Petra Enrika von Hellens	Turku
France	Linda Hardy	Nantes
Germany	Carina Jope	Frankfurt
Gibraltar	Michelle Torres	Gibraltar
Greece	Eugenia Paschalidi	Athens
Greenland	Laali Lyberth	Godthab
Guam	Michelle Cruz	Santa Rita
Guatemala	Ana Maria Johanis Iglesias	Guatemala City
Holland	Gabrielle van Nimwegen	Valkenburg
Hong Kong	Patsy Lau Yan-Ling	New Territories
Hungary	Bernadette Papp	Szombathely
Iceland	Maria Run Haflidadóttir	Reykjavík
India	Celine Shyla Lopez	Bangalore
Ireland	Sharon Ellis	Cork
Israel	Ravit Asaf	Tel Aviv
Italy	Paola Irrera	Messina
Jamaica	Julie Anne Bradford Houghton	Kingston
Japan	Kaoru Kikuchi	Tokyo
Korea	Lee Mi-young	Seoul
Latvia	Zane Valicka	Cēsis
Lebanon	Nicole Bardawil	Keserwan
Macau	Ho Lok-I	Macau
Malaysia	Fazira Wan Chek	Kuala Lumpur
Malta	Noelene Micallef	Fgura
Mauritius	Sarasvadee Rengassamy	Central Flacq
Mexico	Carmen Lucia Lehman Fernandez	Mérida
Namibia	Linda Sharon Schulz	Windhoek
New Zealand	Karly Donne Kinnaird	Dunedin
Nigeria	Sandra Guenefred Petgrave	Lagos
Norway	Kjersti Brakestad	Oslo
Panama	Michelle Marie Harrington Hasbun	Panama City
Paraguay	Lourdes Magdalena Zaracho	Asuncion
Philippines	Marina Pura Santos Benipayo	Manila
Poland	Ewa Wachowicz	Krakow
Portugal	Fernanda Manuela Santos	Lisbon
Puerto Rico	Lianabel Rosario Centeno	Trujillo Alto
Romania	Camelia Ilie	Bucharest
Russia	Julia Alexandrovna Kourotchkina	Moscow
Seychelles	Myrna Chantal Hoareau	La Digue
Singapore	Jennifer Wong	Singapore
Slovenia	Natasa Abram	Koper
South Africa	Amy Kleinhans	Cape Town
Spain	Samantha Torres Waldron	Ibiza
Sri Lanka	Ishara Abelashini Makolange	Colombo
Swaziland	Candy Litchfield	Mbabane
Sweden	Ulrika Johansson	Sollentuna
Switzerland	Valerie Bovard	La Tour-de-Peilz
Thailand	Metinee Kingpayome	Bangkok
Trinidad & Tobago	Renee Garib	St. Joseph
Turkey	Ozlem Kaymaz	Istanbul
Uganda	Olga Nampima	Rukungiri
Ukraine	Oksana Sabo	Kiev
United Kingdom	Claire Elizabeth Smith	Chester
United States	Sharon Flynn Belden	Miami
Uruguay	Leonora Irene Dibueno Fenocchi	Montevideo
Venezuela	Francis del Valle Gago Aponte	Caracas
Zambia	Elizabeth Mwanza	Lusaka

Trivia

Returning countries and Debuts

• Croatia, Russia, Slovenia, and Ukraine competed in Miss World for the first time.
• Zambia last competed in 1974.
• Seychelles last competed in 1975.
• Bermuda, and Uganda last competed in 1989.
• Canada, Hong Kong, and Sri Lanka last competed in 1990.

Withdrawals and Nations not competing

• Ghana, and Kenya failed to send their delegates in Miss World.

Other Notes

• 1992 marked the first year that no Asian country made it into the Top 10 in Miss World. Israel, which made it into the Top 10, competed as part of Europe in Miss World since 1989.
• The preliminary scores in Miss World were no longer presented.
• Philippine representative Marina Santos Benipayo was a last minute replacement for original representative Marilen Espino who had to withdraw due to illness just days before her departure.
• United Kingdom, Claire Elizabeth Smith, was also the host of Miss World 2001 in Sun City and 2002 in London.
• United States, Sharon Flynn Belden, competed as Miss Florida in Miss USA 1992, but failed to make it into the semi-finals.
• Bahamas reached the semi-finals in Miss World for the first time.
• Belgium, Sandra Joine, was born in Kinshasa, Zaire by Belgian parents.
• Holland, Gabrielle van Nimwegen, celebrated her 21st birthday in the Miss World 1992 finals.
• Half the number of countries which made it into the semifinals, were not in the semifinals last year: Denmark (1986), Israel (1987), United Kingdom (1989), Finland and Poland (1990). Russia and Bahamas made into the semi-finals for the first time, since the former made its first appearance in Miss World, and the latter in 1966. Ultimately, Russia had won the title of Miss World.

Changes in Miss World

• Awards for Miss Personality and Miss Photogenic were given to the contestants after a one-year absence.
• Miss World lost its franchise with Thames Television, since operations of the said network had declared their closure at the end of that year.
• Peter Marshall, who became compere in Miss World since 1980, was no longer hosting the competition due to its near closure of Thames Television.
• In the Parade of Nations, the contestants introduced themselves in swimsuits (inset) with their national costumes while parading themselves around the Palace of the Lost City grounds for the first time. Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela did not speak English, while Curaçao, Iceland, South Africa, and Zambia were escorted by South African tribal men without their own national flags.
• Preliminary swimsuit and scoring were eliminated in the competition; thus, ten semi-finalists would be chosen based on the judges' decision.
• Interviews of the semi-finalists were not handled in the competition; instead, they were given a speech on why they deserved to become Miss World during the evening gown competition.
• The five finalists would be chosen for the interview or perhaps the final question. Each of them would pick the name of the judge, and then on, the chosen judge would ask his/her question to the finalist.

Crossovers

Miss Universe

• Miss Universe 1992: France, and Nigeria
• Miss Universe 1993: Belgium, Cayman Islands, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, and Switzerland
• Miss Universe 1994: Uruguay
• Miss Universe 1998: American Virgin Islands

Miss International

• Miss International 1992: Costa Rica, and Spain (semi-finalist)
• Miss International 1993: United Kingdom

External sources

• Pageantopolis
• Jimmy's Pageant Page