|
VENUE
Skonto Hall, Riga |
 |
ENTRIES 25 |
|
HOSTS
Marie Naumova
Renars Kaupers |
DEBUTS
Ukraine |
Another Baltic-staged contest and another
country winning the contest for the very first time. After waiting 12 years for
a country to achieve a debut win (after ex-Yugoslavia in 1989) the last 3 years
have brought 3 consecutive countries winning Eurovision for the first time. This
sequence of events has occurred twice before (1956/57/58, predictably, with
Switzerland, Netherlands & France, and 1966/67/68 with Austria, UK,
& Spain).
It was also an extremely close contest at the business end.
Only 3 points separated the top 3 songs. The only other time in ESC history that
this happened was the 4 way tie in 1969. Quite remarkable for it to happen with
the current scoring system. The Baltic stranglehold was well and truly broken, Estonia had
their worst result since their debut and the hosts Latvia finished second-bottom
after being one of the pre-contest favourites. The United Kingdom brought off a
spectacular "nul points" that was a God-send for this little website
(even a link from a BBC website news page!).
Many other old assumptions were knocked for six, too,
as songs from very early draws
and non-English songs did very well. There was some controversy when the Irish televote result arrived too late to be officially verified and the backup jury
vote was used instead. After such a very tight finish the Russian TV company has
been campaigning for the release of the Irish televotes (the jury awarded no
points to Russia, nor Turkey for that
matter!).
| Iceland |
Open Your Heart |
Birgitta |
8 |
| Austria |
Weil der Mensch Zählt |
Alf Poier |
6 |
| Ireland |
We've Got The World Tonight |
Mickey Joe Harte |
11 |
| Turkey |
Every Way That I Can |
Sertab Erener |
1 |
| Malta |
To Dream Again |
Lynn Chircop |
25 |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina |
Could It Be |
Mija Martina |
16 |
| Portugal |
Deixa-me Sonhar |
Rita Guerra |
22 |
| Croatia |
I Can't Be Your Lover |
Claudia |
15 |
| Cyprus |
Feeling Alive |
Stelios Konstantas |
20 |
| Germany |
Let's Get Happy |
Lou |
11 |
| Russia |
Ne Verj Ne Boisja |
T.A.T.U. |
3 |
| Spain |
Dime |
Beth |
8 |
| Israel |
Words For Love |
Lior Narkis |
19 |
| Netherlands |
One More Night |
Esther Hart |
13 |
| United Kingdom |
Cry Baby |
Jemini |
26 |
| Ukraine |
Hasta La Vista |
Olexsandr |
14 |
| Greece |
Never Let You Go |
Mando |
17 |
| Norway |
I'm Not Afraid To Move On |
Jostein Hasselgard |
4 |
| France |
Monts Et Merveilles |
Louisa Baileche |
18 |
| Poland |
Zadnyc Granic |
Ich Troje |
7 |
| Latvia: |
Hello From Mars |
F.L.Y. |
24 |
| Belgium |
Sanomi |
Urban Trad |
2 |
| Estonia |
Eighties Coming Back |
Ruffus |
21 |
| Romania |
Don't Break My Heart |
Nicola |
10 |
| Sweden |
Give Me Your Love |
Fame |
5 |
| Slovenia |
Nanana |
Karmen |
23 |
Voting
 
IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK:
An earthquake hits Algeria
killing over 2000 people. |
