The annual competition takes place in Singapore, a small country of only two million inhabitants. Singapore is one of Asia’s most dynamic and progressive countries and the world’s safest and least corrupt country since the late 1970s.
2. Egypt holds first Miss Egypt Universe! Hoda Aboud is expected to become the first woman to represent Egypt in the annual competition in Singapore City, breaking old traditions.
3. More than any other of Latin America’s contestant, Patricia Lopez of Colombia is seen as a favorite to earn the universal trophy at Singapore City. Her international pedigree as Miss South America Universe 1987 and Miss Photogenic needs no introduction. Two weeks earlier, Lopez had eclipsed her colleague Cecilia Bolocco – the eventual winner of MU’87-by winning the Miss South America title, an award which had been won by Palacios before competing in the global contest in July 1986. However, Colombia’s delegate LÃҳpez is eliminated in the first round by an international jury headed by Singapore’s choreographer Goh Choo San.
4.Latin America dominates the field, winning four trophies: Miss Photogenic, Miss Amity (Honduras) and the Best National Costume (Brazil).
5.Latin America’s only international judge in Long Beach is Deborh Carthy Deu of Puerto Rico, former titleholder.
6.Not judge a book by its cover! Cecilia Bolocco of Chile takes the world by storm as a MU from a country suffering under the international isolation, alongside South Africa, Israel and Taiwan. Thus, Chile had transformed itself from a perennial also-ran into one of the world’s top leaders. Few observers will forget Bolocco’s victory. She, on the other hand, is Latin America’s second MU of Italian ancestry, after Norma Nolan of Argentina (1962).
7.Surprisingly Miss Bolocco made three excellent scores on the way to win the title, becoming the first non-Venezuelan South American to claim the global prize since the late 1970s. Ironically, she had been eliminated at the preliminary group stage at the 1987 Miss South America at Colombia. Before winning the global prize, Chile had been semi-finalist since 1985.
8.Several street demonstrations broke out throughout the Latin American republic upon Bolocco’s win.
9.Italy’s representative Roberta Capua comes close to winning the event.
10.Keeping her promise to qualify for the second round in the international pageant, Jessica Newton-Saenz, Peru’s Jackeline Onassis-Kennedy, leaves Lima for Singapore City, becoming the 10th Peruvian to be named semi-finalist since 1957 when the Spanish-speaking nation won the pageant. In fact,her biography impressed the judges: she spent her youth moving all over the world, living unforgettable experiences.
11.After finishing fourth at Miss SA, Ines Maria Calero of Venezuela is fourth runner -up in Singapore. Curiously, she won the Miss Venezuela trophy a week after leaving the hospital, losing five kilograms.
12.Turks & Caicos, a British dependency on the Caribbean, enters into the semifinals for the first time with Carmelita Louise Ariza (and remains the only).
13.After being regarded as one of the top contenders, Miss India does not qualify for the second phase.