And more Big4 news as of October 31, 2012
Two Big4 pageants have recently concluded and there are some shifts in the Big4 ranking. Of particular interest is the ascendant Finland. From 6th, Finland now penetrated the Top 5 which includes United States, Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia. These top 4 countries remained unchanged. The strength of Finland came at the expense of the Philippines which dropped at 6th. It is not so much as the weakness of the Philippines. It was more about the great showing of Finland at Miss International 2012 where it landed as first runner-up thanks to Viivi Suominen.
Others in the Top 10 shows Japan jumping two spots up as it won the Miss International crown. The victory of Ikumi Yoshimatsu allowed her country to oust Australia and Spain even tough Australia was second runner-up at Miss World. India remained unchanged at Top 7 buoyed by its Top 7 finish at Miss World and a semis finish at Miss International.
China's victory at Miss World is not enough to propel it to greater rank. Well in fact it feel one rank down thanks to its non-participation at Miss International. Although it has now 2 Miss World crowns in the bag, it has dismal performance at the other 3 Big4 pageants. This shows that the ranking is unaffected by flash in the pan performances. It truly reflects the real strength of a nation at the beauty pageants because it is statistically shielded from any strong performance in one pageant alone not supported by good results in the other pageants. In short, the ranking can't be easily skewed.
Sri Lanka's unprecedented strong showing at Miss International show its rank shot up from 59 to 56. Madusha Mayadunne is go down in history as the one who put Sri Lanka back in the pageantry map.
There are still two pageants to go and it would be interesting how the year will conclude. Perhaps a string showing by Philippines will put it back to Top 5 or China will make big splashes at Miss Universe. In any case, the Big4 ranking had been found to reflect the recent trends and movements of nations at the world of pageantry. Big4 ranking passed the test of the time and has become a reliable barometer for the strength of nations at Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International and Miss Earth.
