Mariann Birkedal in

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

) is a Norwegian model and beauty pageant titleholder who has represented

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Miss Universe 2008 Miss Universe 2008 was the 57th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Crown Convention Center in Nha Trang, Vietnam on July 14, 2008. This was the first time that the Miss Universe pageant was broadcast in 1080i High-definition. At the end of t ...

and

Miss World 2010 Miss World 2010 was the 60th anniversary of the Miss World pageant, held at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China, on 30 October 2010, after Vietnam backed out of the hosting contract. Kaiane Aldorino of Gibraltar crowned Alexandria ...

Miss Universe 2008

After participating in Frøken Norge 2008 and placing first runner-up, she was selected in a separate competition to be her

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

's representative to the 2008

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

pageant held in

Nha Trang Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh District. The city had ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

on July 14, 2008.

Miss World 2010

Birkedal competed and won the 2010 Frøken Norge pageant celebrated in

Noresund Noresund is a small village in Krødsherad in the county of Buskerud, Norway. Noresund is located on Lake Krøderen (lake), Krøderen. Highway 7 (''Riksvei 7'') passes through the village. Norefjell Ski Area is located 3 kilometers northwest ...

on June 26, gaining the right to represent Norway in

. As the official representative of her

to the 2010

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...

pageant, held in

Sanya Sanya; Chinese postal romanization, also spelled Samah is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan, Hainan Province in Southeast China, South China. According to the Sixth National Populati ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, she won the

Miss World Top Model Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss I ...

fast-track event on October 23, and automatically became one of the Top 25 semifinalists, the first Norwegian woman to place in

since

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. Birkedal also placed third in both

Miss World Beach Beauty Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss Int ...

and Miss World Sportswoman fast-track events of

, which made her the early bookies' favourite to win the contest. In the end, she finished in the Top 7. There were some suggestions that Beijing might have pressured the judges to provide low scores for Birkedal, Miss Norway, because the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

was awarded to one of its

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

Liu Xiaobo Liu Xiaobo (; 28 December 1955 – 13 July 2017) was a Chinese literary criticism, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end Ch ...

References

External links

Official Frøken Norge website
Norwegian beauty pageant winners Living people Miss Universe 2008 contestants Miss World 2010 delegates Miss Norway 1980s births People from Stavanger Year of birth missing (living people) {{pageant-bio-stub