Miss Universe 1976

Miss Universe 1976
Miss Universe 1976
	Rina Messinger, Miss Universe 1976
Date	11 July 1976
Presenters	Bob Barker; Helen O'Connell;
Venue	Lee Theatre, Hong Kong
Broadcaster	CBS (international); TVB (Host broadcaster);
Entrants	72
Placements	12
Debuts	Barbados; Northern Marianas; Papua New Guinea; St. Maarten;
Withdrawals	Belize; Haiti; Jamaica; Lebanon; Micronesia; Morocco;
Returns	Honduras; Norway; Suriname;
Winner	Rina Messinger; Israel
Congeniality	Margaret McFarlane (Trinidad and Tobago)
Best National Costume	Rocío Lazcano (Peru)
Photogenic	Pauline Davies (England)
	← 1975 1977 →

Miss Universe 1976 was the 25th Miss Universe pageant, held on 11 July 1976^[a] at the Lee Theatre in Hong Kong. Rina Messinger of Israel was crowned by Anne Marie Pohtamo of Finland. This was the first and only time that an Israeli has won the competition. It was the only time in the pageant's history that the event was held in Hong Kong.

Results

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 1976	Israel – Rina Messinger^[1]
1st runner-up	Venezuela – Judith Castillo^[1]
2nd runner-up	Wales – Sian Adey-Jones^[1]
3rd runner-up	Scotland – Carol Grant
4th runner-up	Australia – Julie Ismay
Top 12	Argentina – Lilian Deasti Chile – Verónica Sommers Colombia – María Reyes Curaçao – Anneke Dijkhuizen England – Pauline Davies Hong Kong – Rowena Lam Norway - Bente Lihaug

Contestants

Seventy-two contestants competed for the title.

Country/Territory	Contestant
American Samoa	Taliilani Letuli^[2]
Argentina	Lilian Noemí De Asti^[3]
Aruba	Cynthia Bruin
Australia	Julie Anne Ismay
Austria	Heidi-Marie Passian
Bahamas	Sharon Smith
Barbados	Jewell Nightingale
Belgium	Yvette Aelbrecht
Bermuda	Vivienne Hollis
Bolivia	Carolina Aramayo
Brazil	Katia Moretto
Canada	Normande Jacques
Chile	Verónica Sommer
Colombia	María Helena Reyes
Costa Rica	Silvia Jiménez
Curaçao	Anneke Dijkhuizen
Denmark	Brigitte Trolle
Dominican Republic	Norma Lora
Ecuador	Gilda Plaza
El Salvador	Mireya Calderón
England	Pauline Davies
Finland	Suvi Lukkarinen
France	Monique Uldaric
West Germany	Birgit Margot Hamer
Greece	Melina Michailidou
Guam	Pilar Laguana
Guatemala	Blanca Montenegro
Holland	Nannetje Nielen^[4]
Honduras	Victoria Alejandra Pineda
Hong Kong	Rowena Lam
Iceland	Gudmunda Hulda Johannesdottir
India	Naina Balsaver^[4]
Indonesia	Juliarti Rahayu Gunawan
Ireland	Elaine O'Hara^[4]
Israel	Rina Messinger
Italy	Diana Scapolan
Japan	Miyako Iwakuni
Liberia	Laurine Wede Johnson
Luxembourg	Monique Wilmes
Malaysia	Faridah Norizan
Malta	Mary Grace Ciantar
Mauritius	Marielle Tse-Sik-Sun
Mexico	Carla Jean Evert
New Zealand	Janey Kingscote
Nicaragua	Ivania Navarro^[4]
Northern Mariana Islands	Candelaria Borja
Norway	Bente Lihaug
Panama	Carolina Chiari
Papua New Guinea	Eva Regina Arni
Paraguay	Nidia Fátima Cárdenas
Peru	Rocío Lazcano
Philippines	Elizabeth de Padua
Puerto Rico	Elizabeth Zayas
Scotland	Carol Jean Grant
Singapore	Linda Tham
Sint Maarten	Angela Huggins
South Africa	Cynthia Classen
South Korea	Chung Kwang-hyun
Spain	Olga Fernández
Sri Lanka	Genevieve Parsons
Suriname	Peggy Vandeleuv
Sweden	Caroline Westerberg
Switzerland	Isabelle Fischbacher
Thailand	Katareeya Areekul
Trinidad and Tobago	Margaret McFarlane
Turkey	Manolya Onur
United States	Barbara Peterson^[5]
United States Virgin Islands	Lorraine Patricia Baa
Uruguay	Leila Vinas
Venezuela	Judith Castillo
Wales	Sian Adey-Jones
Yugoslavia	Svetlana Radojcic

Notes

^ ^a ^b The event was held at 8:00 am Hong Kong Time (UTC+08:00); for the Americas, this was July 10 in their local times.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Israeli Wins Miss Universe". The News and Observer. Associated Press. 12 July 1976. p. 19. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
^ "Hong Kong Is Agog Over Beauty Pageant". The New York Times. 10 July 1976. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
^ "Kissinger, el personaje preferido" [Kissinger, the favorite character]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). 9 July 1976. pp. 3B. Retrieved 26 August 2023 – via Google News Archive.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Basu, Soma (15 February 2017). "40 years ago as competitors on stage for the Ms.Universe pageant, their looks mattered. Now their bonding and inner beauty does". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^ "It's All a Dream World for the New Miss U.S.A." The Kansas City Times. Associated Press. May 17, 1976. p. 9. Retrieved 25 July 2023.

External links

Miss Universe official website

[Hong_Kong_date-1] The event was held at 8:00 am Hong Kong Time (UTC+08:00); for the Americas, this was July 10 in their local times.

[AP-2] "Israeli Wins Miss Universe". The News and Observer. Associated Press. 12 July 1976. p. 19. Retrieved 24 August 2023.

[3] "Hong Kong Is Agog Over Beauty Pageant". The New York Times. 10 July 1976. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 August 2023.

[:3-4] "Kissinger, el personaje preferido" [Kissinger, the favorite character]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). 9 July 1976. pp. 3B. Retrieved 26 August 2023 – via Google News Archive.

[:0-5] Basu, Soma (15 February 2017). "40 years ago as competitors on stage for the Ms.Universe pageant, their looks mattered. Now their bonding and inner beauty does". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 August 2023.

[Times-6] "It's All a Dream World for the New Miss U.S.A." The Kansas City Times. Associated Press. May 17, 1976. p. 9. Retrieved 25 July 2023.

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