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Miss Universe 2000
Miss Universe 2000
	Lara Dutta
Date	12 May 2000
Presenters	Sinbad; Ali Landry; Julie Moran;
Entertainment	Elvis Crespo; Dave Koz; Montell Jordan; Anna Vissi;
Venue	Eleftheria Indoor Hall, Nicosia, Cyprus
Broadcaster	CBS(international); CyBC (official broadcaster);
Entrants	79
Placements	10
Withdrawals	Austria; Bonaire; Barbados; Cook Islands; Curaçao; Guyana; Nicaragua; Northern Mariana Islands; Suriname; Turkey; United States Virgin Islands; Zambia;
Returns	Bulgaria; Denmark; Guam; Netherlands; Norway; Saint Martin; Zimbabwe;
Winner	Lara Dutta; India
Congeniality	Tamara Scaroni, Aruba
Best National Costume	Letty Murray, Mexico
Photogenic	Helen Lindes, Spain
	← 1999 2001 →

Miss Universe 2000 was the 49th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Eleftheria Indoor Hall in Nicosia, Cyprus on 12 May 2000.^[1]

At the end of the event, Mpule Kwelagobe of Botswana crowned Lara Dutta of India as Miss Universe 2000. It is the country's second victory in the pageant's history.

Contestants from seventy-nine countries and territories competed in this year's pageant. The competition was hosted by Sinbad, with Miss USA 1996 Ali Landry and Julie Moran providing commentary and analysis throughout the event. Elvis Crespo, Dave Koz, Montell Jordan, and Anna Vissi performed in this year's pageant.

Background

Location and date

Nicosia was announced as host city of the pageant on 1 July 1999.^[2] The country invested $3.5 million in the event, in the hope that the publicity would increase tourism, the island's main industry.^[3]

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.^[4]

Selection of participants

Replacements

Miss Hungary Universe 2000, Ágnes Nagy couldn't participate for personal reasons, her first runner-up Izabella Kiss took her place. Miss Italia 1999, Manila Nazzaro was the initial Italian representative to Miss Universe 2000, but the Miss Italia Organization lost their Miss Universe licence that year due to MUO objections that the national contest was opened to married women and mothers since 1994. Then a new contest called The Miss for Miss Universe was organized by the American – Italian actress Clarissa Burtt from 2000 to 2005.^[5] Annalisa Guadalupi won the first edition of the pageant. Initially, Miss Russia organizers wanted to send Miss Russia 1997–1998, Yelena Rogozhina to Miss Universe 2000, but her victory at the Miss Europe 1999 contest in Lebanon made her unable to compete at Miss Universe. The winner of Miss Russia 1999, Anna Kruglova, also was ineligible for Miss Universe due to her being underage at the time. Then, the organizers of the Miss Russia contest decided to pick Miss Russia 1999 – first runner-up, Svetlana Goreva for Miss Universe 2000. Initially, the Miss Venezuela Organization chose Martina Thorogood to represent their country at both Miss Universe and Miss World 1999. However, Miss Universe officials objected to this as Thorogood placed first runner-up at Miss World 99 and there was a chance that she could become Miss World should the winner resign or lose her crown. Then MVO wanted to send Miss Venezuela 1999 1° Runner Up – Norkys Batista to Miss Universe 2000, but because she wasn't the national official titleholder, the Miss Universe officials rejected their participation. Finally a smaller pageant was held among delegates who had competed in previous Miss Venezuela competitions, and Claudia Moreno was chosen to compete at Miss Universe.^[6]

Results

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 2000	India – Lara Dutta
1st runner-up	Venezuela – Claudia Moreno
2nd runner-up	Spain – Helen Lindes
Top 5	Canada – Kim Yee United States – Lynnette Cole
Top 10	Colombia – Catalina Acosta Estonia – Evelyn Mikomägi France – Sonia Rolland South Africa – Heather Hamilton Zimbabwe – Corinne Crewe

Pageant

Selection committee

Final telecast:^[7]

Contestants

Seventy-nine contestants competed for the title.

Country/Territory	Contestant	Age	Hometown
Angola	Eunice Manita	19	Luanda
Argentina	Andrea Nicastri	25	Buenos Aires
Aruba	Tamara Scaroni	23	San Nicolaas
Australia	Samantha Frost	22	Sydney
Bahamas	Mikala Moss	24	Nassau
Belgium	Joke Van de Velde	20	Ghent
Belize	Shiemicka Richardson	26	Belize City
Bolivia	Yenny Vaca	18	Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Botswana	Joyce Molemoeng	21	Orapa
Brazil	Josiane Kruliskoski	20	Sinop
British Virgin Islands	Tausha Vanterpool	22	Tortola
Bulgaria	Magdalina Valchanova	22	Plovdiv
Canada	Kim Yee	22	Edmonton
Cayman Islands	Mona Lisa Tatum	22	George Town
Chile	Francesca Sovino	21	Valparaíso
Colombia	Catalina Acosta	22	Bogotá
Costa Rica	Laura Mata	22	San José
Croatia	Renata Lovrinčević	23	Split
Cyprus	Christy Groutidou	19	Nicosia
Czech Republic	Jitka Kocurová	20	Prague
Denmark	Heidi Meyer Vallentin	23	Copenhagen
Dominican Republic	Gilda Jovine	20	Santo Domingo
Ecuador	Gabriela Cadena	20	Guayaquil
Egypt	Rania El-Sayed	18	Cairo
El Salvador	Alexandra Rivas	20	San Salvador
Estonia	Evelyn Mikomägi	20	Tallinn
Finland	Suvi Miinala	19	Kemi
France	Sonia Rolland	18	Cluny
Germany	Sabrina Schepmann	18	Nauen
Ghana	Maame Esi Acquah	18	Cape Coast
Great Britain	Louise Lakin	21	Manchester
Greece	Eleni Skafida	21	Athens
Guam	Lisamarie Quinata	22	Hagåtña
Guatemala	Evelyn López	21	Guatemala City
Honduras	Flor Garcia	19	San Pedro Sula
Hong Kong	Sonija Kwok	25	Hong Kong
Hungary	Izabella Kiss	24	Budapest
India	Lara Dutta	21	Ghaziabad
Ireland	Louise Doheny	19	Dublin
Israel	Nirit Bakshi	18	Beersheba
Italy	Annalisa Guadalupi	18	Rome
Jamaica	Saphire Longmore	24	Clarendon
Japan	Mayu Endo	24	Tokyo
Lebanon	Norma Elias Naoum	23	Beirut
Malaysia	Lynette Ludi	25	Kuching
Malta	Jolene Arpa	18	Santa Luċija
Mauritius	Jenny Arthemidor	18	Port Louis
Mexico	Leticia Murray	20	Hermosillo
Namibia	Mia de Klerk	20	Khomas
Netherlands	Chantal van Roessel	25	North Brabant
New Zealand	Tonia Peachey	19	Auckland
Nigeria	Matilda Kerry	19	Lagos
Norway	Tonje Kristin Wøllo	25	Buskerud
Panama	Analía Núñez	20	Panama City
Paraguay	Carolina Ramírez	20	Alto Paraná
Peru	Verónica Rueckner	19	Piura
Philippines	Nina Ricci Alagao	22	Makati
Poland	Emilia Raszynska	21	Warmia-Masuria
Portugal	Licinia Macedo	24	Madeira
Puerto Rico	Zoribel Fonalledas	22	Guaynabo
Russia	Svetlana Goreva	18	Moscow
Singapore	Eunice Olsen	22	Singapore
Sint Maarten	Angelique Romou	26	Philipsburg
Slovakia	Miroslava Kysucká	19	Bratislava
South Africa	Heather Hamilton	22	Gauteng
South Korea	Kim Yeon-joo	19	Seoul
Spain	Helen Lindes	18	Girona
Sweden	Valerie Aflalo	23	Malmö
Switzerland	Anita Buri	21	Berg
Chinese Taipei	Lei-Ann Chang	22	Taipei
Thailand	Kulthida Yenprasert	21	Bangkok
Trinidad and Tobago	Heidi Rostant	22	Port of Spain
Turks and Caicos	Clintina Gibbs	20	Cockburn Town
Ukraine	Natalie Shvachko	24	Dnipropetrovsk
United States	Lynnette Cole	22	Columbia
Uruguay	Giovanna Piazza	18	Montevideo
Venezuela	Claudia Moreno	22	Caracas
Yugoslavia	Lana Marić	19	Belgrade
Zimbabwe	Corinne Crewe	18	Harare

Notes

Withdrawals

Austria – Simone Smrekar.
Bonaire – No contest due to lack of Sponsorship.
Barbados – No contest due to lack of Sponsorship Until 2003.
Cook Islands – Miss Cook Islands 1999 and Miss South Pacific 1999, Liana Scott did not compete due to lack of Sponsorship.
Curaçao – Miss Curaçao 2000, Jozaïne Wall, couldn't participate because she was underage. Jozaïne successfully sued the Miss Curaçao organization due to this issue and went to Miss World 2000 instead.^[8]
Guyana – No contest due to lack of Sponsorship.
Nicaragua – No contest due to lack of Sponsorship.
Northern Mariana Islands – Miss Northern Marianas International 1999, Michelle Boyer Sablan did not participate for undisclosed reasons.^[9]
Suriname – No contest held and they lost their Miss Universe licence.
Turkey – Miss Turkey 2000, 1° Runner up Gamze Özçelik was replaced by Cansu Dere because Özçelik was underage at the time,^[10] but Cansu Dere was forbidden by the Turkish Government to travel to the Miss Universe 2000 pageant in Cyprus, due to the current tense Turkish-Cypriot relationships over Northern Cyprus.
United States Virgin Islands – No contest.
Zambia – Sidonia Mwape – Due to lack of Sponsorship.

Both Venezuelan candidates placed second in their respective competitions to the candidates from India

Returns

Last competed in 1982

Saint Martin

Last competed in 1996

Denmark

Last competed in 1998

Bulgaria
Guam
Netherlands
Norway
Zimbabwe

Awards

Aruba - Miss Congeniality (Tamara Scaroni)
Spain - Miss Photogenic (Helen Lindes)
Mexico - Best National Costume (Letty Murray)

References

^ ^a ^b The event was televised live at 08:00 pm local time (UTC+03:00) in various broadcasters around the world. For the United States, it was tape delayed to make way for the primetime broadcast.
^ "Cyprus to host Miss Universe in millennium". Agence France Press. 1 July 1999.
^ Kambas, Michele (1 July 1999). "Cyprus to host Miss Universe next year-official". Reuters.
^ "Church and state feud over Miss Universe contest". Associated Press. 4 August 1999.
^ Coach, Media. "HOME". clarissaburt.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
^ "Venezuela elects new representative to Miss Universe contest". Associated Press. 28 March 2000.
^ "2000 Miss Universe: Discover Cyprus & Meet the Judges". YouTube. Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
^ "MU2K - Miss Universe 2000 Candidates". 12 October 2000. Archived from the original on 12 October 2000. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
^ "NMBPA CONFIRMS Sablan out, Hill in - Saipan News, Headlines, Events, Ads - Saipan Tribune". www.saipantribune.com. 22 October 1999. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
^ "MİLLİYET YAŞAM SAYFALARI". www.milliyet.com.tr. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.