for the first time. Mexico won the third slot from North America. Host Chile finished last, as Japan and Jamaica had done. 1995 Beijing, China This was the first win for Nick Nickell's professional team ("Nickell" in North American tournaments). Canada made its best showing by far and South Africa finished fifth while the European and US champions did not reach the quarterfinal. Sweden finished fourth. 1997 Hammamet, Tunisia France won its first Bermuda Bowl as the fifth and last qualifier from Europe following another Bermuda Bowl tournament expansion. USA 1 finished fourth. Host Tunisia finished last and South Africa second-last. 2000s 2000 Southampton, Bermuda The Bermuda Bowl cycle continued as usual in 1998/1999 but the concluding tournament was in January 2000, marking the 50th anniversary of the inaugural contest in Hamilton. In contrast to that three-way competition among teams representing America, Britain, and Europe, there were now eight geographic zones from which twenty teams qualified in numbers influenced by past bridge population and performance. Europe: Italy, Sweden, Norway, Bulgaria, France, Poland —ranks 1 to 6 in the European championship North America: Canada, USA 1, USA 2 South America: Argentina, Brazil Asia & Middle East: Pakistan Central America & Caribbean: Guadeloupe and Bermuda as the host country Pacific Asia: China, Taiwan, Indonesia South Pacific: Australia, New Zealand Africa: South Africa Norway finished fourth. Europe's six teams all finished in the top ten but only Norway reached the semifinal. Bermuda finished last, the fifth time for six hosts since 1989. 2001 Paris, France Italy finished fourth. 2003 Monte Carlo, Monaco Expansion to 22 teams. Perennial European champions Italy returned to the top ranks of the Bermuda Bowl competition, but lost to USA 1 in the finals. * Morse and Wolff did not play enough boards to qualify for third place. Norway finished fourth. 2005 Estoril, Portugal Italy's 14th Bermuda Bowl win was its first since 1975. Sweden finished fourth. Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes of the Italian teams were later found cheating, and are currently barred from play by multiple bridge associations. 2007 Shanghai, China The 38th Bermuda Bowl saw Norway win its first title, after two second, one third, and two fourth from 1993. Helgemo–Helness and Glenn Grøtheim were members of all six teams. South Africa finished fourth. Its advance to the quarterfinal was a surprise and there it knocked out the defending champion and advance favourite Italy. 2009 São