Credits
News
© Barry Viniker
Dima Bilan - Believe
Russia wins 53rd Eurovision Song Contest
The complete results will follow.
 | ||||||
 |
|  | ||||
 | ||||||
Related polls
- POLAND: Your favourite song in the national final?
- ARMENIA: Your favourite song in the national final?
- The Netherlands decided: How much do you like Ik be verliefd (Sha la lie)?
- Cyprus decided: How much do you like Life looks better in spring?
- Iceland decided: How much do you like Je ne sais quoi?
- Denmark decided: How much do you like In a moment like this?
- Norway decided: How much do you like My heart is yours?
Go directly to the reactions
Reactions
When reacting to a news item, please stick to the topic. Inappropriate messages (swearing, racism, hate, etc.), messages in other languages than English and spam (which includes URL advertising) will be deleted and you risk your account being removed. Reacting on newsitems is only possible when logged in as a member. Still don't have member account?
Click here to react Click here to become a member (free!)
Congratulations Russia! Well deserved - even though not not my favourite.
I found this years ECS pretty open. There were several potential winners. It helps having "friends" to get a good result, but it is not essensial. So please fellow "westerners" - stop complaining.
I find the ESC way better today than it used to be 10 years ago!
A bit of statistics from this year concerning my own country, Norway. Yes, we did receive high points from the rest of scandinavia, a total of 44 p from Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Norway got a total of 182p. If we subtract these 44 p Norway end up on 138 (would have been on a shared number 8 with Turkey). Lets say our neighbours had given us the average amounts of points that we got from all the other countries this year - 4,33 p. Then Norway would have gotten another (4,33p x 4) 17 p, and ended up with a total of 155 p. In that case Norway would still have ended up as good as number 6 (only one place down from the real result).
So - neighbours isn't everything. Must have been the song as well...
And by the way - 4 out of a total of 8 countries that didn't give any points to Norway are definitely western countries: Germany, Switzerland, France, Cyprus... As there are fewer "western" that "eastern" countries in the ESC - actually the "east" were more prone to give points to Norway than the west..
its not the coreography only
everything is the best when they r all together
it had everythin imo n im so glad
Whatever...
so thanks to FOKAS EVANGELINOS that he made my dream came true n made me watch to passions:figure skating n eurovision together on stage 
im also happy that Fokas Evangelinos chose Russia as a team as Kostas martakis was my favourite 
n Dima's voice may not be smt super just like Kalomira's.we all know an amazing voice is never enough.who hast the best mixture is the winner.
Russia had it all.with or without a Greek
but thanks they had him 
almila .... Dima's voice is nothing special and the song just another run-of-th-mill tune. Big deal if Russia won by default
in the voting .... A GREEK BROUGHT HIM THERE and the Ukraine, too.
Why do you think he won 2nd place Athens? Not because of his singing or the song, but because of the stage show for his entry.
And ... YES ... you guessed it ... that white piano with the rose petals
and the ballerina was again(!!) choreographed / directed by the
same (fickle!) GREEK man, Fokas Evangelinos as in 2008.
FOKAS EVANGELINOS is, apparently, the talented one!!!!
yeah its nonsense as we have a well deserved winner:RUSSIA!
yahooo
I "believe" 
that the ESC 2008 BELGRADE was a great SHOW,
because it (inadvertently) gave ... a triple(!!!) win to GREECE 
and I do not only mean by placing third.
THANK YOU, EUROPE!!!
1. Russia -- this entry's choreographer/director was
a talented but (fickle!) GREEK man, Fokas Evangelinos
"using" a respectable Olympic skater in a ... SONG contest!
(For those who do not know it, he was
the one "behind" Greece's ESC 2005 victory
with Helena Paparizou, and was also in charge of
the opening show and all acts during both the Semifinal
and Final of the ESC 2006 ATHENS! Last year,
he ... "worked his magic" with Belarus's 2007 entry,
but Greece's Sarbel - "Yassou Maria" did great without his help, too!)
Behind the scenes 2008 news: After a certain GREEK manager's protege,
Kostas MARTAKIS, whose entry was choreographed and directed by
Fokas Evangelinos, LOST to Kalomira's "Secret Combination"
at the 2008 Greek NF final, they decided to work for the opposite 
camp.
( "Can you see it, can you see it? ...)
2. Ukraine -- this entry's choreographer/director was
a talented but ("shady" ) GREEK man, Fokas Evangelinos
making Kirkorov's ... average SONG look good on stage.
(For those who do not know it, he was
the one "behind" Greece's ESC 2005 deserved victory
with Helena Paparizou, and he even made sure
Ani would wear Roberto Cavalli, like Helena did in 2005
and 2006. He was in charge of the opening show and all acts
during both the Semifinal and Final of the ESC 2006 ATHENS!
Last year, he ... "worked his magic" with Belarus's entry,
but Greece's Sarbel - "Yassou Maria" did great without his help, too!)
Behind the scenes 2008 news: After a certain GREEK manager's protege,
Kostas MARTAKIS, whose entry was choreographed and directed by
Fokas Evangelinos, LOST to Kalomira's "Secret Combination"
at the 2008 Greek NF final, they decided to work for another opposite camp.
( "Can you feel it, can you feel it? ...)
3. GREECE - the TRUE winner (fair and square*)
( In BOTH Semifinals, the voting was ... "Secret"
and the FAVOURABLE ... "Combination" of results
placed* Greece's great SONG with KALOMIRA ... No. 1
due to her SLEEK, SEXY and ENERGETIC PERFORMANCE
backed by her AMAZING team so SUCCESSFULLY ...
and her J*Lo original outfits were sublime, by the way)
And Kalomira managed this success her way and
WITHOUT "needing" any help from that
(backstabbing) GREEK, Fokas Evangelinos ,
I might add!!!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS, GREECE!!
Anyway I decided not to follow this nonsense thing and it is silly to take it seriously.Dustin was right
The victory is deserving to be rspected, but defeat needn't to be justificationed!
I am totally happy for Russia! It was the best what could have happened on the night of the final. Go Russia, Go Moscow 2009!
im not a sudden fan of Russia im happy with Russia
n thank god we saw Evgeni reacting as he rarely does.the last time i saw this after the olympic performance lol
congrats again
@ Ayca Oner
its so easy to understand me.of course i supported my country.but i didnt do it before the finals.i did it since the press conference where we learnt our representatives.
n its so normal as i would support my country in every condition
but from the first time ive heard the song i was in love with Believe,it was my favourite so im so happy with the victory
also im so glad that ive watched my two passiond(figure skating n eurovision)on the same stage
probably evgeni had a positive effect to the votes received but its not Evgeni
n one last thing that bad pronounciation is attractive for me.like the"what will be will be"of Fridrik form Euroband.
thankfully by these pronounciations i feel real not like at school
so my support is always ready for my country(except a disaster like 2005)but thats on one side,my personal taste is on one side
p.s:its so rare that i feel happy with a result like this year.as ive said before i had many reasons for that(song,lyrics,Evgeni,Edvin, etc)
@ Lee Williscroft-Ferris
wish UK wins without those countries support.
i loved Scooch last year.but it wasn't enough.
i still think n believe that UK can do better with the singer potential n the music quality it has 
ALMILA I don't understand you.You supported just Turkey before the contest but later,you suddenly became a fan of Russia.I also do not agree with you about the English pronunciatiion of Dima Bilan.I'm an English teacher and I have never heard a pronunciation of the word "impossible" like that. It was clearly wrong and funny as well.You see,understanding every word is not enough. He should have practised more.
And Evgeny helped him much with the show and presentation of the song. I think and am sure that he wouldn't win without him on the stage.
Bless you Almila.
We know Russia won - goodness knows you're happy enough to remind us often enough.
But the reactions of everyone should tell you all you need to know. If only Britain's Empire had been in Eastern Europe! Imagine if India, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan, Australia could vote! The UK would win every year!!!!
Ehy yanis, you COMPLETELY MISUNDERSTOOD. I did not sad for ex. that Turkish peoples that live in Germany are bacteria, comeone, are u kidding???
The bacteria are the 12PTS or 10PTS given regurlary by Germany to Turkey! ( when the Turkey song does not deserve it )
The bacteria is NOT REFERRED TO PEOPLES, IT IS TO NEIGHBOROUGH+DIAPSORA.
The Eurovision song contest has a cancer and their bacteria are the Neighborough+Diaspora votes that HAS TO BE MINIMIZED. Please do not say things like Racism etc that HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME!
Nikolai Valkov, Ukraine could not vote for Russia. Austria could vote for Russia plus for the UK and Spain. Austria is NEUTRAL in this case. You have 25 NEUTRAL Nations voting. I do not know anymore how to writing it to make you peoples understand this.
Do you know why in Spanish soccer the 2nd team from Real Madrid or Barcelona cannot be promoted to the 1st division even if they win the 2nd divison? How do you think an ipotetical 1st division game between Real Madrid vs Real Madrid 2 or Barcelona vs Barcelona2 or Real Madrid vs Barcelona2 or Barcelona vs Real Madrid2 will end?????????
So you keep Barcelona2 and Real Madrid2 in the 2nd division and you promote UD Tenerife and UD Las Palmas because Las Palmas and Tenerife DO NOT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE between RealM and Barca.
The jury outside Europe, hehe it's many years i thinked on that too. A jury from Australia ... this is not the ashes series, UK 12PTS? A jury from China .... Need to say who China will give 12pts? A jury from South America ... Chiki chicki bailando lalala ... Te quiero from Brazil Senhorita do Mar. Oh i forgot Argentina and Uruguay ... Mia cara Pizza. US/CANADA, does i need to say it? African jury, Camerun 12pts goes to ... we do not speak english , commeon ca va? Ghana 12pts goes to ... need to say it? There is another soluton ... a 100% jury from Antartica.
@ Tommy W
you're forgettting one crucial fact...the Western televote is dominated by Eastern immigrants so your suggestion would solve nothing, Im afraid
the Eurovision Song Contest needs new rules!!!
it's too big to see many countries will participating!
43 countries!!! next year it will be 45? - kosovo will maybe enter and maybe uzbekistan or turkmenistan???
is this the Eurovision Song Contest???
NO, NO - STOP!!!
one evening, one Eurovision Song Contest! not more!
it was okay to saw just one semi final to choice the top 10 in the final. but the system with 2 semi finals didn't work...
it's too much!!!
and what should brings europe when in the final can vote all 43 countries???? NOTHING!
we have seen it!
at first:
I would like to see the full program with the points from 1-12 by the spokersperson!
the voting part is the most greatest highlight in the show!
please bring it back!!!
please let just the participating countries in the final to vote!
please bring juries to the event...
50% juries / 50% televoting - this could help against the diaspora!
if we will see next year 2 semi finals again...
the voting should be change!
-the countries from the semi 1 should vote in the final only for these countries from semi 1 + big four and host country AND not more!!!
-the countries from the semi 2 should vote in the final only for these countries from semi 2 + big four and host country AND not more!!!
-the big four should be divide in two... two of them to vote for the participating countrys from one semi final which has passed in the final!
-only the host country should vote for all participating countries in the final.
-countries that has not passed in the final should not have to vote!
I think we will never see an Eurovision Song Contest with only 24 or 26 participating countries!
the idea with the voting like this idea would be perfect!
and when juries come back and we would see 50% juries voting and 50% televoting we would have a real winner without diaspora!
BURR
totally agree!
Yes Tommy w, that will be the only way... hope it will happen finally !
nothing changes lol
his english was bad,needed a figure skater to take the attention blah blah blah
hs english was good enough that i understood every single word clearly(obviously he worked pn this)
didnt need the figure skate
imo took the risk of the skater for the skater would take all the attention-mor than Dima-caus hes a legend
face the truth:RUSSIA ıs the winner
i love Iceland and many but Believe was one of the best n it won
Really what I would like to see happen is "ONLY THE PERFORMING 25 CONTRIES IN THE FINAL SHOULD VOTE" not the ones who went out in the simi-final. there is a good balnce of east and west in the final. To my knowledge there was 13 countries from the west and 12 from the west in the final.
there for we can have the voting from each country from 1-12 like it used to be, that's whats also missing for the contest. you don't get achange to see waht pionts have been given, because there to many countries to anounce their votes.43 is far to many.
I for one didn't think Russia or Greece would be top 3..
respect to all x
Sorry for my spelling mistakes, I was writing in a hurry
FACTS: Russia had one of the most boring songs ever, sung by someone with the charisma of a courgette who couldn't even pronounce the English words properly. Why not sing in Russian?!!!
Compare to Iceland: charismatic singers, perfect English, a song that actually held your attention without the need for a mulleted ice-skater.
Face it: the result was a pile of crap!
To tony power: My friend you forget an important detail: England, Scotland and Wales are parts of ONE country. Then again the Nordic countries, the Baltic states etc are all different countries. I'm Estonian. The only country that is a similar to ours thanks to the language, location etc is Finland (Most Estonians understand Finnish) but that's it... Even Baltic top 20 on our local MTV is nonsense. We, estonians know maybe a couple of latvian bands but we don't know anything about Lithuanian music - their tase is so different from ours and they live far... Then again Estonians know a lot about Finnish music since we could listen to Finnsih radio and watch Finnish TV even during the Soviet times and now when 50 express boats and ferries go to finland and back every day and it takes only 1,5 hours to go there, we attend their concerts and we know a lot about ther music but we wouldn't be happy if Katvians or Lithuanians or Finnish whoever represented us at ESC.
PSTC,
Here's an example. Let's say I am from Ukraine. And I can't vote for Russia(but I want their song to win because they are fellow neighbours). Why would I vote for Great Britain even if it is the best song? Or I want Ukraine to win(out of patriotism), why would I vote for Spain when it is competition? I would probably vote for the least competitive song or not vote at all. It's like giving the teams in a championship the ability to vote which other team to win it. Plain stupid.
Why cant people in Japan vote? I am sure many people there watch Eurov. too. And if they have the right to vote more will. But in this case they'll vote for the song not the country. Exclude Europe, put other countries as jury.
PLEASE SAVE THE CONTEST you are a RACIST and XENOPHOBIC person!!!
Who are you to caracterize as "bacteria" the inmigrants or whoever you refer to?! Under what authority you allow yourself to talk about "HEALTHY"or " not HEALTHY" countries and so on...
You are nothing but a facist xenophobic person.
Tell us your name and natioanlity please so we know who we are talking to...
I dont remember anybody saying anything before the new countries enter the contest and the scandinavian countries were voting for each other!
If the western countries doesnt like the competition they either make one on their own or they try and find good songs and a fare way to win..Its as simple as that...
Maybe this is a good idea: Exclude all countries that are not to careful with democracy, human rights and are homophobic. I quess we would have the old good contest back
The list of 531 reactions is divided into 20 pages. Choose a page:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
React yourself
This news article is older than one week. Reacting to articles is only possible in the first week after publication.
