# Miss Universe 1997

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46th Miss Universe

Miss Universe 1997 Miss Universe 1997, Brook Lee Date 16 May 1997 Presenters George Hamilton Marla Maples Trump Entertainment Enrique Iglesias Venue Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, Florida, United States Broadcaster CBS (WFOR-TV) Entrants 74 Placements 10 Debuts Croatia Withdrawals Cayman Islands Cook Islands Denmark Ghana Great Britain Indonesia Netherlands Norway Sri Lanka Returns Bermuda Mauritius United States Virgin Islands Winner Brook Lee United States ← 1996 1998 →

**Miss Universe 1997** was the 46th [Miss Universe](/source/Miss_Universe) pageant, held at the [Miami Beach Convention Center](/source/Miami_Beach_Convention_Center) in Miami Beach, Florida, United States, on 16 May 1997.

[Brook Lee](/source/Brook_Lee) of the United States was crowned by [Alicia Machado](/source/Alicia_Machado) of Venezuela at the conclusion of the event. Seventy-four delegates competed in this year.[1]

This is the first Miss Universe edition produced by [Donald Trump](/source/Donald_Trump).[2]

## Background

[Miami Beach Convention Center](/source/Miami_Beach_Convention_Center)

### Selection of participants

#### Replacements

The winner of [Miss Universe Chile](/source/Miss_Universe_Chile) 1997, Hetu'u Rapu, from Easter Island, was replaced by her first runner-up, Claudia Delpín, because Hetu'u did not meet the age requirement to take part at Miss Universe 1997 by seventeen days.[3][4]

## Results

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### 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 Sweden – Victoria Lagerström

## Contestants

Countries and territories which sent delegates and results for Miss Universe 1997

Seventy-four contestants competed for the title.

Country/Territory Contestant Age[a] Hometown Argentina Nazarena Vanesa González 22 Buenos Aires Aruba Karen-Ann Peterson 20 Piedra Plat Australia Laura Csortan 20 Brisbane Bahamas Nestaea Sealy[5] 18 Nassau Belgium Laurence Borremans 19 Wavre Belize Sharon Dominguez 22 Orange Walk Bermuda Naomi Darrell 20 Warwick Parish Bolivia Helga Bauer[6] 19 Santa Cruz dela Sierra Bonaire Jhane-Louise Landwier 18 Kralendijk Brazil Nayla Micherif 21 Ubá British Virgin Islands Melinda Penn[7] – 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[8] 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[9] 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[10] 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[11] 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[12] 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 Natalia Cano 20 Montevideo Venezuela Marena Bencomo 23 Valencia Zimbabwe Lorraine Magwenzi 22 Harare

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-A_5-0)** Ages at the time of the pageant

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-The_Huffington_Post_2014_1-0)** ["Miss Universe 1997 Brook Lee -- Straight Ally for LGBT Equality"](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jimmy-nguyen/miss-universe-1997-brook-_1_b_5483039.html). *The Huffington Post*. June 12, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Archives, L. A. Times (1996-10-24). ["OTHER NEWS"](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-10-24-fi-57103-story.html). *Los Angeles Times*. Retrieved 2023-02-21.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Ganadoras de los años noventa"](http://www.chileancharm.com/1952_MCH_HISTORIA/miss_chile_4.html) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-08-21.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Rapa Nui en la historia de la belleza chilena"](http://chileancharm.com/ISLA-DE-PASCUA/REINAS-DE-LA-ISLA.html) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-08-21.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["The women who would be queen"](https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1997/05/15/the-women-who-would-be-queen/). *Sun Sentinel*. 15 May 1997. Retrieved 1 September 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Helga Bauer pone su sello a la agenda del Alcalde"](https://www.bolivia.com/noticias/autonoticias/detallenoticia20910.asp) [Helga Bauer puts her stamp on the Mayor's agenda]. *El Nuevo Día* (in Spanish). 11 June 2004. Retrieved 1 September 2023 – via Bolivia.com.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Weighing in on Festival"](https://www.bvibeacon.com/weighing-in-on-festival/,%20https://www.bvibeacon.com/weighing-in-on-festival/). *The BVI Beacon*. 13 August 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Plivelić, Petra (17 November 2019). ["Koja je prava Miss Hrvatske? Razgovarali smo s tri aktualne misice i vlasnicima direkcija hrvatskih izbora..."](https://www.jutarnji.hr/scena/domace-zvijezde/koja-je-prava-miss-hrvatske-razgovarali-smo-s-tri-aktualne-misice-i-vlasnicima-direkcija-hrvatskih-izbora-9626542) [Who is the real Miss Croatia? We talked to three current misses and the owners of the directorates of Croatian elections...]. *[Jutarnji list](/source/Jutarnji_list)* (in Croatian). Retrieved 1 September 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Kür der Miss Bergisch-Land 1999"](https://www.rga.de/rhein-wupper/miss-bergisch-land-1999-4358569.html) [Freestyle competition for Miss Bergisch-Land 1999]. *Remscheider General-Anzeiger* (in German). 13 October 1999. Retrieved 12 September 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["Those Who Went Before"](https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/local-lifestyle/those-who-went-before/). *Jamaica Observer*. 24 January 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Die neue "Miß Peru" stammt aus Würzburg"](https://www.welt.de/print-welt/article636982/Die-neue-Miss-Peru-stammt-aus-Wuerzburg.html) [The new "Miss Peru" comes from Würzburg]. *[Die Welt](/source/Die_Welt)* (in German). 15 November 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["ประวัติ น้ำฝน สรวงสุดา ลาวัณย์ประเสริฐ"](https://entertainment.trueid.net/detail/DYEJvgEpDgo0) [Biography of Namfon Suengsuda Lawanprasert]. *Sanook* (in Thai). 11 July 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2025.

v t e Miss Universe 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Titleholders Runners-up and finalists Editions Countries Scorings

v t e Miss Universe 1997 national titleholders AUS: Laura Csortan BEL: Laurence Borremans FIN: Karita Tuomola HON: Joselina García HKG: Lee San-san IND: Nafisa Joseph ITA: Denny Méndez MEX: Rebeca Tamez PAN: Lía Borrero SUI: Melanie Winiger THA: Suangsuda Lawanprasert USA: Brook Lee (winner) VEN: Marena Bencomo

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