Catharina Brink ( Svensson; born July 24, 1982) is a Danish lawyer, equestrienne, model and beauty queen who won the first ever Miss Earth 2001.

Early and personal life

Svensson was originally from

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark, and carries dual citizenship (Swedish and Danish) through her parents. After her Miss Earth reign, she continued her studies and eventually became a lawyer. On 6 October 2007, Svensson married

Jan Brink Jan Brink (born 1960) is a Swedish equestrian. He was born in Hörby. He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he placed fourth in team dressage. He also competed at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. Jan Brink is a sev ...

, an Olympian and seven-time Swedish

dressage Dressage ( or ; , most commonly translated as "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrianism, equestrian sport defined by th ...

champion. She moved to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

with Brink after their wedding in Trollenäs Castle. The couple had met in 2005 and on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

of 2006, Brink proposed to Svensson on a skiing holiday in

Verbier Verbier () is a village located in south-western Switzerland in the canton of Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederatio ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. On March 22, 2010, Svensson gave birth to her first child, Angelina Brink.

Pageantry

Svensson won the first

Miss Earth Miss Earth is an annual international major beauty pageant based in the Philippines that advocates for environmental awareness, conservation and social responsibility. Along with Miss World, Miss Universe, and Miss International, it is one ...

, an annual international

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

promoting

environmental awareness Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecologi ...

, when she was crowned on 28 October 2001. At the time of her crowning, the 19-year-old Svensson was a third year law student and a part-time model. It was her first time to participate in any beauty contest; she was appointed by the national pageant director of Miss Earth Denmark. Svensson became the second youngest winner of Miss Earth when

Drita Ziri Drita Ziri (born 26 May 2005) is an Albanian beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Earth 2023. She is the first Albanian to win the Miss Earth title and to win one of the Big Four beauty pageants. Winning the title at 18 years and 21 ...

won at age 18 in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. In October 2005, she went back to the Philippines and served as one of the judges in the Miss Earth 2005, the fifth edition of the pageant won by Miss Venezuela, Alexandra Braun. In 2015, she was guest of honor and official judge in the final of

Miss Earth 2015 Miss Earth 2015 was the 15th edition of the Miss Earth pageant, held at the Marx Halle in Vienna, Austria, on December 5, 2015. Jamie Herrell of the Philippines crowned her compatriot Angelia Ong as her successor at the end of the event. It w ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. She advocated during the coronation night to stay focused on promoting

environmental conservation Environmental conservation may refer to: * Environmental protection * Nature conservation {{disambiguation ...

. In May 2016, she was a judge at the Face of Denmark competition together with former Miss Earth 2009, Larissa Ramos and crowned the new Miss Earth Denmark.

References

External links

Official Miss Earth web siteMiss Earth Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svensson, Catharina Danish female models Miss Earth winners 1982 births Living people Danish beauty pageant winners Danish emigrants to Sweden Miss Earth 2001 contestants Danish people of Swedish descent Models from Copenhagen