Miss Universe 2007

Template:Compare image with Wikidata Miss Universe 2007 was the 56th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, Mexico on 28 May 2007.

At the end of the event, Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico crowned Riyo Mori of Japan as Miss Universe 2007. It was Japan's first victory in forty-eight years, and the second victory of the country in the pageant's history.

Contestants from seventy-seven countries and territories competed in this year's pageant. The competition was hosted by Mario Lopez and Vanessa Minnillo, Miss Teen USA 1998. Mexican Latin pop group RBD performed in this year's pageant.

Background

File:Ciudad de Mexico - 1194 - Auditorio Nacional.jpg

Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City, the venue for Miss Universe 2007

Location and date

On 11 February 2007, Pedro Rodríguez, president of the Grupo Promotor Mu México announced that the cities of Cancún and Oaxaca will host the 2007 edition of the pageant in May. However, on 30 March 2007, Donald Trump, owner of the Miss Universe Organization, and Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, announced that the pageant will take place at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City on 28 May 2007. Oaxaca had to reject from being one of the host cities for some pageant events due to the political-social conflict happening at the state. The ruins of Monte Albán in Oaxaca was planned to be the location for the national costume competition, but was relocated to the Angel of Independence in Mexico City.

Selection of participants

Contestants from seventy-seven countries and territories were selected to compete in the competition. Two of these delegates were appointees to their positions after being a runner-up of their national pageant or being selected through a casting process, while two selected to replace the original dethroned winner.

Replacements

Sharon Kenett was appointed to represent Israel at Miss Universe after Liran Kohener, Miss Israel 2007, had to complete her mandatory military service. Miss Mauritius 2006 Melody Selvon was replaced by Sandra Faro, the first runner-up of Miss Mauritius 2006, due to being underage. Selvon was only 16 years old.

Debuts, returns and withdrawals

The 2007 edition saw the debuts of Tanzania, Serbia, and Montenegro as two separate nations, and the returns of Barbados, Belize, Curaçao, Honduras, Italy. Honduras last competed in 2002, while the others last competed in 2005. The Cayman Islands, Chile, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Namibia, the Northern Mariana Islands, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, and the United Kingdom withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate. Serbia and Montenegro competed as two separate countries starting in this edition. Aruni Rajapaksha of Sri Lanka withdrew due to undisclosed reasons. However, Rajapaksha competed in the pageant the following year. Casynella Olivierre of the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines withdrew for unknown reasons despite announcing that she will compete in Miss Universe 2007 two years in advance. Lestapier Winqvist of Sweden withdrew after not showing up for the pageant since she finded the competition "misogynistic".

Incidents before the pageant

In April 2007, controversy erupted over the proposed national costume of Rosa María Ojeda, Miss Mexico. The skirt of the costume depicted scenes from the Cristero War, a Roman Catholic rebellion in the 1920s in which thousands of people were killed, including hangings. The outfit also included a bullet-studded belt and a crucifix necklace. The design was chosen from over thirty others and had been intended to show Mexico's culture and history, but it elicited controversy amid claims it was in poor taste and inappropriate. Pageant owners said that the costume would be redesigned to include image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Results

File:Miss Universe 2007 Map.PNG

Miss Universe 2007 participating countries and territories.

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 2007	Template:Flagu – Riyo Mori
1st runner-up	Template:Flagu – Natália Guimarães
2nd runner-up	Template:Flagu – Ly Jonaitis
3rd runner-up	Template:Flagu – Honey Lee
4th runner-up	Template:Flagu – Rachel Smith
Top 10	Template:Flagu – Micaela Reis Template:Flagu – Puja Gupta Mexico – Rosa María Ojeda Template:Flagu – Xiomara Blandino Template:Flagu – Flaviana Matata
Top 15	Template:Flagu – Lucie Hadasová Template:Flagu – Žaklina Šojić Template:Flagu – Tjaša Kokalj Template:Flagu – Farung Yuthithum Template:Flagu – Lyudmila Bikmullina

Special awards

AwardTemplate:Efn	Contestant
Miss Congeniality	Template:Flagu – Zhang Ningning
Miss Photogenic	Template:Flagu – Anna Theresa Licaros

Pageant

Format

The Miss Universe Organization introduced several specific changes to the format for this edition. The number of semifinalists was reduced to 15— the same number of semifinalists in 2005. 15 semifinalists were chosen through the preliminary competition— composed of the swimsuit and evening gown competitions and closed-door interviews. The top 15 competed in the swimsuit competition and were narrowed down to the top 10 afterward. The top 10 competed in the evening gown competition and were narrowed down to the top 5 afterward. This was the first year since 2002 that the judges' average scores were shown on television. The top 5 competed in the question and answer round and the final look. It was the first time since 2001 that the final question posed on the ladies came from the judges instead of the final five and the current Miss Universe.

Selection committee

Final telecast

• Tony Romo – Dallas Cowboys quarterback
• James Kyson Lee – actor on Heroes
• Nina Garcia – Project Runway judge and Elle magazine fashion director
• Dave Navarro – rock star
• Dayanara Torres – Miss Universe 1993 from Puerto Rico
• Mauricio Islas – Mexican actor
• Lindsay Clubine – Deal or No Deal briefcase model
• Marc Bouwer – fashion designer
• Christiane Martel – Miss Universe 1953 from France
• Michelle Kwan – World champion, 1998 Olympic silver medalist, and 2002 Olympic figure skating bronze medalist

Contestants

Seventy-seven contestants competed for the title.

Country/Territory	Contestant	AgeTemplate:Efn	Hometown
Template:Flagicon Albania	Sadina Alla	18	Tirana
Template:Flagicon Angola	Micaela Reis	18	Luanda
Template:Flagicon Antigua and Barbuda	Stephanie Winter	18	St. John's
Template:Flagicon Argentina	Daniela Stucan	25	Ensenada
Template:Flagicon Aruba	Carolina Raven	23	Tanki Leendert
Template:Flagicon Australia	Kimberley Busteed	18	Gladstone
Template:Flagicon Bahamas	Trinere Lynes	18	New Providence
Template:Flagicon Barbados	Jewel Garner	24	Christ Church
Template:Flagicon Belgium	Annelien Coorevits	21	Wijtschate
Template:Flagicon Belize	Maria Jeffery	25	Belize City
Template:Flagicon Bolivia	Jessica Jordan	23	Huacaraje
Template:Flagicon Brazil	Natália Guimarães	22	Belo Horizonte
Template:Flagicon Bulgaria	Gergana Kochanova	20	Sofia
Template:Flagicon Canada	Inga Skaya	21	Toronto
Template:Flagicon China	Zhang Ningning	20	Shenyang
Template:Flagicon Colombia	Eileen Roca	20	Valledupar
Template:Flagicon Costa Rica	Verónica González	24	Orotina
Template:Flagicon Croatia	Jelena Maros	19	Split
Template:Flagicon Curaçao	Naemi Monte	20	Willemstad
Template:Flagicon Cyprus	Polyvia Achilleos	22	Nicosia
Template:Flagicon Czech Republic	Lucie Hadašová	20	Strážnice
Template:Flagicon Denmark	Žaklina Šojić	25	Copenhagen
Template:Flagicon Dominican Republic	Massiel Taveras	22	Santiago
Template:Flagicon Ecuador	Lugina Cabezas	20	Quito
Template:Flagicon Egypt	Ehsan Hatem	21	Cairo
Template:Flagicon El Salvador	Lissette Rodríguez	22	Mejicanos
Template:Flagicon Estonia	Viktoria Azovskaja	20	Tallinn
Template:Flagicon Finland	Noora Hautakangas	23	Soini
Template:Flagicon France	Rachel Legrain-Trapani	18	Saint Quentin
Template:Flagicon Georgia	Ana Giorgelashvili	19	Martvili
Template:Flagicon Germany	Angelina Glass	19	Berlin
Template:Flagicon Greece	Doukissa Nomikou	20	Athens
Template:Flagicon Guatemala	Alida Boer	22	Guatemala City
Template:Flagicon Guyana	Meleesea Payne	21	Georgetown
Template:Flagicon Honduras	Wendy Salgado	24	Tegucigalpa
Template:Flagicon Hungary	Ildikó Bóna	19	Kaposmérő
Template:Flagicon India	Puja Gupta	23	New Delhi
Template:Flagicon Indonesia	Agni Pratistha	19	Jakarta
Template:Flagicon Israel	Sharon Kenett	21	Tel Aviv
Template:Flagicon Italy	Valentina Massi	24	Forlimpopoli
Template:Flagicon Jamaica	Zahra Redwood	25	Kingston
Template:Flagicon Japan	Riyo Mori	20	Shizuoka
Template:Flagicon Kazakhstan	Gaukhar Rakhmetaliyeva	20	Almaty
Template:Flagicon Lebanon	Nadine Njeim	19	Maaser El Shouf
Template:Flagicon Malaysia	Adelaine Chin Ai Nee	23	Kuala Lumpur
Template:Flagicon Mauritius	Sandra Faro	20	Quatre Bornes
Template:Flagicon Mexico	Rosa María Ojeda	20	Culiacán
Template:Flagicon Montenegro	Snežana Bušković	19	Podgorica
Template:Flagicon New Zealand	Laural Barrett	20	Christchurch
Template:Flagicon Nicaragua	Xiomara Blandino	22	Managua
Template:Flagicon Nigeria	Ebinabo Potts-Johnson	19	Port Harcourt
Template:Flagicon Norway	Kirby Ann Basken	21	Oslo
Template:Flagicon Panama	Sorangel Matos	22	Yaviza
Template:Flagicon Paraguay	María José Maldonado	21	Fernando de la Mora
Template:Flagicon Peru	Jimena Elías	18	Lima
Template:Flagicon Philippines	Anna Theresa Licaros	22	Cuenca
Template:Flagicon Poland	Dorota Gawron	23	Częstochowa
Template:Flagicon Puerto Rico	Wilmadilis Blasini	25	Guayanilla
Template:Flagicon Russia	Tatiana Kotova	21	Moscow
Template:Flagicon Saint Lucia	Yoanna Henry	25	Soufrière
Template:Flagicon Serbia	Teodora Marčić	19	Novi Sad
Template:Flagicon Singapore	Jessica Tan	25	Singapore
Template:Flagicon Slovakia	Lucia Senášiová	23	Bratislava
Template:Flagicon Slovenia	Tjaša Kokalj	21	Ljubljana
Template:Flagicon South Africa	Megan Coleman	22	Hillcrest
Template:Flagicon South Korea	Honey Lee	24	Seoul
Template:Flagicon Spain	Natalia Zabala	24	San Sebastián
Template:Flagicon Switzerland	Christa Rigozzi	24	Monte Carasso
Template:Flagicon Tanzania	Flaviana Matata	19	Shinyanga
Template:Flagicon Thailand	Farung Yuthithum	20	Pathum Thani
Template:Flagicon Turks and Caicos Islands	Saneita Been	21	Providenciales
Template:Flagicon Ukraine	Lyudmila Bikmullina	21	Kharkiv
Template:Flagicon United States	Rachel Smith	22	Clarksville
Template:Flagicon United States Virgin Islands	Renata Christian	23	Saint Thomas
Template:Flagicon Uruguay	Giannina Silva	22	Montevideo
Template:Flagicon Venezuela	Ly Jonaitis	21	Tocuyito
Template:Flagicon Zambia	Rosemary Chileshe	26	Lusaka

External links

• Miss Universe official website