Grand Slam Ranking and Country of the Year 1989
1989: ANALYSING THE MAIN CHANGES IN THE GRAND SLAM RANKING DURING THE PAST DECADE
The 1980s were marked by Venezuela´s incredible rise, going from being a middle power (14th place in 1979), to a major one (5th place in 1989). Venezuela replaced Argentina (11th in 1989) in the Top 10.
Little by little, Colombia also kept on growing throughout the 1980s, going from 16th in 1979, to 12th place in 1989. It was close to entering the Top 10 and becoming a major power.
Newcomers to the Top 20 were Iceland (19th place in 1989, up 11 positions in the decade), and New Zealand (20th in 1989, up 5 positions in the decade). These two new “middle powers” had replaced Denmark (20th in 1979, 21st in 1989), and Greece (19th in 1979, 25th in 1989).
Poland had also skyrocketed in the 1980s, going from 64th place in 1979 to 36th place in 1989. As a matter of fact, after a tremendous 1989 performance, Poland went 15 notches up in a single year!
Zaire, up 33 notches from 1979 to 1989 (96th to 63rd), was the biggest mover of the decade.
Miss World Ranking in 1989 (Top 20): 1-UK; 2-United States; 3-Sweden; 4-Venezuela; 5-Australia; 6-Germany; 7-France; 8-Israel; 9-Jamaica; 10-Austria; 11-South Africa; 12-Argentina; 13-Brazil; 14-Finland; 15-Denmark; 16-Netherlands; 17-Iceland; 18-Ireland; 19-Colombia; 20-New Zealand.
Miss Universe Ranking in 1989 (Top 20): 1-United States; 2-Sweden; 3-Brazil; 4-Venezuela; 5-Finland; 6-Germany; 7-England / UK; 8-Israel; 9-Colombia; 10-Philippines; 11-Japan; 12-Greece; 13-Argentina; 14-Spain; 15-Puerto Rico; 16-Australia; 17-Peru; 18-Norway; 19-Italy; 20-South Africa.
Miss International Ranking in 1989 (Top 20): 1-United States; 2-England / UK; 3-Philippines; 4-Australia; 5-Finland; 6-Brazil, 7-Germany; 8-Spain; 9-Japan; 10-Venezuela; 11-Colombia; 12-Iceland; 13-New Zealand; 14-Netherlands; 15-Argentina; 16-Norway; 17-Costa Rica; 18-Israel; 19-Sweden; 20-France.
COUNTRY OF THE YEAR 1989: POLAND
On November 9th, 1989, the wall which represented the inner German border, located in Berlin, was put down by thousands of people who knew that the collapse of Communism and the subsequent falling of the "iron curtain" in Europe were close. A few days later, on November 22nd, Aneta Kreglicka of Poland, one of the countries which lived behind those curtains for so long, won the Miss World title in Hong Kong. She had already been the 1st runner-up in Miss International, and in addition to Aneta's success, Joanna Gapinska, another Polish beauty, placed 4th in Miss Universe back in May. Its Miss World victory and being the Country of the Year in such an emblematic year, had a lot of meaning to Poland and to all other countries which were finally experiencing the "winds of change". Nations such as the Soviet Union, Hungary and Latvia (which was still part of the USSR), joined Miss World for the first time, while Czechoslovakia had returned after 2 decades. They had arrived to stay and were about to write an interesting history of their own in Grand Slam beauty pageants!
In 2nd place that year was the Netherlands, after its Miss Universe triumph with the one and only Angela Visser (she competed as Miss Holland in Cancun). The Netherlands also had a semi-finalist in Miss International that year.
And if Poland succeeded in Miss World a few days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, two months before it happened it was Iris Klein of West Germany who won the Miss International title. Germany had also placed in the Top 10 of Miss Universe that year, being the 3rd most successful nation of 1989.
This is how the top countries of 1989 scored in the Grand Slam Ranking:
1) Poland (5100 points);
2) The Netherlands (3426);
3) West Germany (3351).
Top 5: USA (2425) and Venezuela (1601).