Miss World 2002

Azra Akin
TURKEY

Azra Akin, a 21-year-old Turkish model and dancer, was crowned Miss World 2002 at the pageant, held at the Alexandra Palace in London on Dec. 7. Finishing in the Top 5 were: 1st Runner-up Natalia Peralta (Colombia), 2nd Runner-up Marina Mora (Peru), 3rd Runner-up Katrine Sorland (Norway), and 4th Runner-up Wu Ying-Na (China). The winner took home 100,000 pounds ($157,000) in prize money. Eighty-eight contestants participated in the pageant, Alexandra Palace was sold out, and millions of viewers watched the pageant on television in 142 countries. The pageant was moved from Nigeria to London after rioting broke out among Christians and Muslims in the northern city of Kaduna, Nigeria, following a newspaper columnist's speculation that the prophet Mohammad would have probably married one of the beauty queens. The paper later retracted the statements, but not before riots forced the pageant's move. Azra addressed the controversy, saying: "I wish people in the world would be more respectful to each other. People who think Miss World was to blame should research more about this competition, because we are doing great things."Controversy surrounding Miss World arose earlier this year when contestants threatened to pull out of the Miss World pageant in protest at an Islamic court's ruling that a single mother must be stoned to death. Some countries' representatives pledged to boycott the competition; others feared for their safety at the hands of Islamic groups that potentially could disrupt the ceremony, which was to be held in Abuja, Nigeria.