Miss Universe 2000

Miss Universe 2000
Date	May 12, 2000
Presenters	Sinbad, Ali Landry and Julie Moran
Entertainment	Elvis Crespo, Dave Koz, Montell Jordan, and Anna Vissi
Venue	Eleftheria Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus
Broadcaster	CBS, CyBC
Entrants	79
Placements	10
Withdraws	Bonaire, Cook Islands, Curaçao, Guyana, Suriname, Turkey, US Virgin Islands, Zambia
Returns	Bulgaria, Denmark, Guam, Netherlands, Norway, St. Martin, Zimbabwe
Winner	Lara Dutta  India
Congeniality	Tamara Scaroni  Aruba
Best National Costume	Letty Murray  Mexico
Photogenic	Helen Lindes  Spain

Countries and territories which sent delegates and results.

Miss Universe 2000, the 49th Miss Universe pageant was held at Eleftheria Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus on May 12, 2000. 79 delegates from around the universe competed for the crown. At the conclusion of the final night, Lara Dutta of India, aged 22, was crowned as the new Miss Universe 2000 by Miss Universe 1999, Mpule Kwelagobe of Botswana.^[1] Being the mythological birthplace of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty, and alluding to the Judgement of Paris, the organizers presented a golden apple as a prize to the pageant's winner.^[2]

The final competition at the Eleftheria Stadium featured a stage set reproducing the ancient Curium Amphitheatre. It was hosted by American comic Sinbad, with entertainment by Elvis Crespo, Montell Jordan, saxophonist David Koz and Cypriot international star Anna Vissi.^[3] The event was held at daybreak in Cyprus so that it could be televised live during the prime-time viewing period in the United States.^[4]

The pageant was marked by certain political issues relating to the contestants. Turkey did not send a delegate to the pageant for the first time in thirteen years because of its relations with Cyprus; the Lebanese and Israeli delegates refused to speak to each other; and Corrinne Crewe of Zimbabwe had to deal with the threat of escalating violence in her country.^[5] There were also protests from religious and feminist groups on the island who claimed the event was un-Christian and an affront to women.^[6] The three finalists, Miss India, Miss Venezuela, and Miss Spain, were asked to respond to these protests and convince people that beauty pageants were good. Lara Dutta of India, aged 22, the winner of the competition, responded by saying she believed beauty pageants were a platform for women to voice their opinions and help them enter the field they wanted to enter, be it entrepreneurship, the armed forces, politics, and so forth. She also said beauty pageants made women the strong, independent individuals they are today because of all the help they give women. This spectacular answer to a difficult question completely impressed the judges and entire audience, showing Lara was not only gorgeous but a highly intellectual individual as well. This answer is believed to have greatly contributed to her victory.

That same year, two other Miss India contestants, Priyanka Chopra and Dia Mirza, won the Miss World 2000 and Miss Asia Pacific 2000 titles respectively. This was the second time a country had won all three major international beauty pageants in the same year, the first being Australia in 1972.

Host city

Nicosia was announced as host city of the pageant on July 1, 1999.^[7] The country invested $3.5 million in the event, in the hope that the publicity would increase tourism, the island's main industry.^[8]

Conservative Cypriot church leaders protested the decision to hold the pageant on the island, claiming that millennium celebrations of the birth of Christ were more important and that the event was scandalous and would promote female nudity.^[9]

Results

Placements

Semifinal Scores

Delegate Swimsuit Evening Gown Average Top 5 Finalists  Venezuela 9.370 (2) 9.556 (1) 9.463 (1) 9.000 (3)  India 9.440 (1) 9.400 (4) 9.420 (2) 9.954 (1)  Spain 9.070 (5) 9.510 (3) 9.290 (3) 9.213 (2)  USA 9.100 (4) 9.240 (5) 9.170 (4) 8.740 (5)  Canada 9.310 (3) 8.970 (7) 9.140 (5) 8.866 (4)  Colombia 8.660 (8) 9.520 (2) 9.090 (6)  Estonia 8.900 (6) 9.040 (6) 8.970 (7)  Zimbabwe 8.740 (7) 8.940 (8) 8.840 (8)  France 8.600 (9) 8.920 (9) 8.760 (9)  South Africa 8.540 (10) 8.750 (10) 8.645 (10)

Winner      First Runner-up      Second Runner-up      Top 5 Finalist      Top 10 Semifinalist (#) Rank in each round of competition

Special Awards

Judges

Telecast Judges

• Tony Robbins – Motivational speaker.
• Catherine Bell – Actress.
• André Leon Talley – Former editor-at-large for American Vogue.
• Kim Alexis – American model.
• Cristián de la Fuente – Chilean actor.
• Debbie Allen – American choreographer
• Serena Altschul – MTV News correspondent.

Contestants

National pageant notes

• Venezuela, initially chose Martina Thorogood to represent their country at both Miss Universe and Miss World 1999. Miss Universe officials objected to this as Thorogood placed first runner-up at Miss World and there was a chance that she could become Miss World should the winner resign or lose her crown. A second, smaller pageant was held among delegates who had competed in previous Miss Venezuela competitions, and Claudia Moreno was chosen to compete at Miss Universe.^[11] Moreno went on to place first runner-up.
• India, Lara Dutta was previously Miss Intercontinental 1997.
• Germany, Sabrina Schepmann was Miss Intercontinental 2000.
• Hong Kong, Sonija Kwok was Miss Chinese International 2000.
• Guatemala, Evelyn López was Miss Tourism Queen of the Year 2000.
• Colombia, Catalina Acosta Albarracín was Miss Italia nel Mondo 2002.
• France, Sonia Rolland, is a known actress in her country.
• Spain, was also the 2nd Runner up in Miss Universe 1999.

International Broadcasters

These are some of the networks outside the United States (telecasted on CBS at the time) that showed the 2000 Miss Universe pageant live (or recorded earlier) in their respective countries and territories:

References

External links

• Miss Universe official website
• Pageantopolis - Miss Universe 2000

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