Alicja Bobrowska in swimsuit

Poland may have several crowns from other Big4 pageants say like several Misses International and a Miss World but when it comes to Miss Universe, this country is still yet to win. Poland's relationship with Miss Universe is quite perplexing. It competed in 1958 and 1959 when it was still a communist nation and then disappeared for a while before showing up again in 1984 until 1986. Again absent for two years, Poland came back while it is changing politically in 1989 and it happens to be the last time this country landed at the semifinals.

Alicja Bobrowska in her beautiful national costume

In 1958, Poland came into the beauty pageant world by sending Alicja Bobrowska. She wowed the audience with her East European charm - something that was exotic to the American audience because of the mystery shrouding the Iron Curtain. Alicja wowed the finals night audience by giving a speech, typical during the early says of the pageant, in Polish but her closing statement was spoken in English, "God bless America, and Poland too!"

Alicja's elegant in her gown

Alicja's speech gave her very high ratings and well in fact she topped the speech category. She ended as 4th runner-up to Colombia's Luz Marina Zuluaga.

In 1959, Zuzanna Cembrowska was sent to the pageant. She was selected in a euphoric national pageant that saw the positive effect of de-Stalinization of Poland even on what was considered as a bourgeois event like beauty pageants. Zuzanna was one of the semifinalists but fell short on the next round.

Brygida flanked by Miss Finland and Miss Venezuela

In 1986, Brygida Elzbieta Bziukiewicz upset the top favorites by placing as 3rd runner-up in a pageant held in Panama. The feat was repeated again by Joanna Gapinska in 1989 and that was the last time Poland was called to join the semis.

Joanna is the last semifinalist to come from Poland

This year, Marcelina Zawadzka will represent Poland at the Miss Universe pageant. She is 22 years old and stands a tall 5'11". Will she break the very long drought of Poland? And how come the country failed to make it to the semis for such a very long time? Have your say via facebook or comment box.

Marcelina Zawadzka is the representative of Poland at Miss Universe 2012