Miss Universe 1976

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.

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 →

 

Placements

Seventy-two contestants competed for the title.

Country/Territory	Contestant
American Samoa	Taliilani Letuli
Argentina	Lilian Noemí De Asti
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
Germany	Birgit Margot Hamer
Greece	Melina Michailidou
Guam	Pilar Laguana
Guatemala	Blanca Montenegro
Holland	Nannetje Nielen
Honduras	Victoria Alejandra Pineda
Hong Kong	Rowena Lam
Iceland	Gudmunda Hulda Johannesdottir
India	Naina Balsaver
Indonesia	Juliarti Rahayu Gunawan
Ireland	Elaine O'Hara
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
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
United States Virgin Islands	Lorraine Patricia Baa
Uruguay	Leila Vinas
Venezuela	Judith Castillo
Wales	Sian Adey-Jones
Yugoslavia	Svetlana Radojcic

Debuts

•   Barbados
•   Northern Mariana Islands
•   Papua New Guinea
•   Sint Maarten

Returns

Last competed in 1973:

•   Norway

Last competed in 1974:

•   Honduras
•   Surinam

Withdrawals

•   Belize - Janet Joan Joseph
•   Haiti
•   Jamaica - Angela Ruddock
•   Lebanon - Ramona Karam
•   Morocco
•   Micronesia - Instead of the region, the delegates from Northern Marianas had been represented themselves as the individual territory since then.

Did not Compete

•   Antigua - Cleopatra Sanders
•   British Virgin Islands - Irene Penn
•   Tahiti - Amiot Mora

Awards

•   Trinidad and Tobago - Miss Amity (Margaret McFarlane)
•   England - Miss Photogenic (Pauline Davies)
•   Peru - Best National Costume (Rocío Lazcano)