Miss World 1998

 Miss World 1998

The 48th Miss World pageant was held at the Lake Berjaya Mahé Resort in Mahé Island, Seychelles. 86 delegates from around the world competed for the crown. Ronan Keating then lead singer of Boyzone and MTV's Eden Harel hosted the event. This year's winner, Israel's Linor Abargil, revealed days after the competition that she was raped months before the pageant.

Linor Abargil - Israel
Linor Abargil is an Israeli model, who was the winner of the Miss World beauty pageant in 1998, after she had been crowned Miss Israel. She is 176 cm (5 ft 9 1/4 in) tall. Two months before being crowned Miss World, Abargil was raped in Italy by an Israeli Shlomo Nur, who was working as a travel agent in Milan. She made her case public and Nur was arrested in Israel, charged with and found guilty of rape. Abargil called for other women to follow her example. February 2006 newspapers announced that Lithuanian basketball superstar Šarunas Jasikevicius proposed to Linor Abargil, and the two started planning their wedding. Soon after Ynetnews announced that Baruch Marzel, the Chairman of the Jewish National Front party, wrote a letter to Linor Abargil Jasikevicius, in which he called on her to turn down Šarunas' marriage proposal unless he converts. Abargil and Jasikevicius married in a ceremony near Barcelona, Spain, in July, 2006. In 2007-2008 Linor Abargil added Šarunas' surname to her own name, now she is - Linor Abargil Jasikevicius.