Miss Universe 1985

Miss Universe 1985 was the 34th Miss Universe pageant, held on 15 July 1985 at the James L. Knight Convention Center in Miami, Florida, United States. Seventy-nine contestants competed in the pageant. Deborah Carthy-Deu of Puerto Rico was crowned by Yvonne Ryding of Sweden.^[1]

Miss Universe 1985
Date	15 July 1985
Presenters	Bob Barker Joan Van Ark
Entertainment	John Denver Clint Holmes
Venue	James L. Knight Convention Center, Miami, Florida, United States
Broadcaster	CBS (WTVJ)
Entrants	79
Placements	10
Debuts	Dominica
Withdrawals	Aruba French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique Namibia South Africa Switzerland Turkey
Returns	Bahamas Haiti Senegal Sri Lanka Tahiti
Winner	Deborah Carthy-Deu Puerto Rico
Congeniality	Lucy Montinola (Guam)
Best National Costume	Sandra Borda (Colombia)
Photogenic	Brigitte Bergman (Holland)
← 1984 1986 →

Background

Location and date

In October 1984, the owners of the newly expanded West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada showed an interest in hosting the Miss Universe 1985 pageant there.^[2] This followed an unsuccessful attempt to host the Miss Universe 1984 pageant in Calgary, Alberta, Canada the previous year.

Pageant organizers chose to host the pageant in Miami, Florida for the second consecutive year. George Honchar, president of Miss Universe Inc., expressed disappointment at a lack of local support for the event, which cost the city $2 million.^[1]

Selection of participants

In April, 1985 the city of Miami requested that the Miss Universe organization insist that South Africa should not send a representative to pageant, due to the threat of demonstrations over her country's Apartheid policy.^[3] In mid May the nation announced that they would not send their titleholder, Andrea Steltzer, to the pageant because of fears for her safety.^[4] This was the first time since 1975 that the country did not participate in the pageant; they would not return to the event until 1995.^[5] Andrea Steltzer (half South African and half German) took part as Miss Germany in the 1989 Miss Universe pageant where she was a semi-finalist.

Results

Miss Universe 1985 participating nations and results

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 1985	Puerto Rico – Deborah Carthy Deu
1st runner-up	Spain – Teresa Sánchez López
2nd runner-up	Zaire – Benita Murekatete
3rd runner-up	Venezuela – Silvia Martinez
4th runner-up	Uruguay – Andrea Lopez
Top 10	Brazil – Márcia Gabrielle Canada – Karen Tilley Chile – Claudia van Sint Jan Ireland – Olivia Tracey United States – Laura Herring

Contestants

•  Argentina - Yanina Castaño
•  Australia - Elizabeth Rowly
•  Austria - Martina Haiden
•  Bahamas - Cleopatra Adderly
•  Barbados - Elizabeth Wadman
•  Belgium - Anne van der Broeck
•  Belize - Jennifer Woods
•  Bermuda - Jannell Nadra Ford
•  Bolivia - Gabriela Orozco
• Brazil - Márcia Gabrielle
•  British Virgin Islands - Jennifer Leonora Penn
•  Canada - Karen Elizabeth Tilley
• Cayman Islands - Emily Hurston
•  Chile - Claudia Emilia van Sint Jan del Pedregal
•  Colombia - Sandra Eugenia Borda Caldas
•  Cook Islands - Essie Apolonia Mokotupu
•  Costa Rica - Rosibel Chacón Pereira
•  Curaçao - Sheida Weber
• Cyprus - Andri Andreou
•  Denmark - Susan Rasmussen
•  Dominica - Margaret Rose Cools Lartigue
•  Dominican Republic - Melba Vicens Bello^[6]
• Ecuador - María Elena Stangl
•  El Salvador - Julia Haydee Mora
•  England - Helen Westlake
•  Finland - Marja Kinnunen
• France - Suzanne Iskandar
•  Gambia - Batura Jallow
•  Gibraltar - Karina Hollands
•  Greece - Sabina Damianidis
•  Guam - Lucy Carbollido Montinola
•  Guatemala - Perla Elizabeth Prera Frunwirth
• Haiti - Arielle Jeanty
• Holland - Brigitte Bergman
• Honduras - Diana Margarita García
• Hong Kong - Shallin Tse Ming
•  Iceland - Hana Bryndis Jonsdóttir
•  India - Sonu Walia
•  Ireland - Olivia Marie Tracey
•  Israel - Hilla Kelmann
•  Italy - Anne Beatrice Popi
• Japan - Hatsumi Furusawa
•  Lebanon - Joyce Sahab
•  Luxembourg - Gabrielle Chiarini
•  Malaysia - Agnes Chin
•  Malta - Fiona Micallef
•  Mexico - Yolanda de la Cruz
•  New Zealand - Claire Glenister
• Northern Mariana Islands - Antoinette Marie Flores
•  Norway - Karen Margrethe Moe
•  Panama - Janette Iveth Vásquez Sanjur
•  Papua New Guinea - Carmel Vagi
• Paraguay - Beverly Ocampo
•  Peru - María Gracia Galleno
• Philippines - Joyce Burton
• Poland - Katarzyna Zawidzka
•  Portugal - Alexandra Gomes
• Puerto Rico - Deborah Carthy-Deu
•  Réunion - Dominique de Lort Serignan
•  Scotland - Jacqueline Hendrie
•  Senegal - Chantal Loubelo
•  Singapore - Lyana Chiok
• South Korea - Choi Young-ok
•  Spain - Teresa Sánchez López
•  Sri Lanka - Ramani Liz Bartholomeusz †
•  Sweden - Carina Marklund
•  Tahiti - Hinarii Kilian
•  Thailand - Tarntip Pongsuk
•  Trinidad and Tobago - Brenda Joy Fahey
• Turks and Caicos Islands - Miriam Coralita Adams
• United States - Laura Herring^[7]
• United States Virgin Islands - Mudite Alda Henderson
•  Uruguay - Andrea López
• Venezuela - Silvia Martínez
•  Wales - Barbara Christian
• West Germany - Stefanie Angelika Roth
• Western Samoa - Tracy Mihaljevich
•  Yugoslavia - Dinka Delić
•  Zaire - Kayonga Benita Mureka Tete