Tonights winners discover their position in the Final
28 May 2010 at 02:24 CEST
In tonight's winners press conference, the ten qualifiers from the Second Semi-Final picked their draw positions for the Final. Here is the complete running order for the Final (including countries directly qualified for the Final; tonight's qualifiers in bold):
Azerbaijan
Spain
Norway
Moldova
Cyprus
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Belgium
Serbia
Belarus
Ireland
Greece
The United Kingdom
Georgia
Turkey
Albania
Iceland
Ukraine
France
Romania
Russia
Armenia
Germany
Portugal
Israel
Denmark
Shortly after the winners were announced, the successful ten candidates made their way to the obligatory winners press conference. At the conference not only did the delighted artists pick their position in the Final, they also spoke with the press.
Georgia's Sofia Nizharadze was first to speak to the media. She explained "It was amazing tonight, you can't imagine what I felt inside. I felt a little nervous and excited, but when I went on stage and saw the crowd and all of the emotions, I relaxed and felt much more comfortable." Sofia felt it was very relieving to be announced as the first qualifier, and that the whole delegation were delighted. Messages from Georgia that fed through were that the public were very pleased with the performance this evening.Sofia thanked everyone who voted for her.
Alyosha from Ukraine was quite emotional and stated that she was very happy with the qualification. When asked how far she expected her special message of the song to go Alyosha replied "We do hope that our messgage will go very far and reach a lot of people." The team were delighted with the draw of 17 as she arrived in Oslo on 17th May and the co-composer was also born on the 17th of the month.
maNga of Turkey were very pleased with the stage performance they gave. The lead singer added "The people and our song got us through to the Final". Turkey continue to enjoy a 100% record of qualifying for the Final of Europe's Favourite TV Show. maNga will again follow Sofia from Georgia in the running order of the Final as they did in tonight's Semi-Final..
Israel's Harel Skaat said he had an amazing experience. He added "I felt like I wanted to tell the 150 million people at home my story and to touch them in their hearts, and I hope that I achieved that." When asked if he could win the Final Harel modestly said "I'm hoping for the good position and result, and Jerusalem or Tel Aviv are certainly ready to host Eurovision but we will just do our best and hope." Harel admitted that he wouldn't be attending the Euroclub and that he would celebrate by going to sleep and preparing for tomorrow's rehearsal.
Former Eurovision Song Contest winner Niamh Kavanagh said of Ireland's triumph tonight "I thought the audience were magnificent with all of the acts. I want to thank NRK for doing a wonderful job. All I had to think of when I stood on that stage was to sing." Niamh admitted that waiting for the announcement of qualification tonight was equally as nervy as waiting for the last vote to come in when she won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993."
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Jon Lilygreen and the Islanders representing Cyprus thanked everyone who voted for them, and hoped that they did Cyprus proud. Jon paid tribute to how well his friend Tom Dice of Belgium did in the First Semi-Final and felt that the results in Oslo had been a victory for good music. Jon also thought that good music could bring any group of people together.
Bookmakers favourite Safura from Azerbaijan said her schoolfirends from back home were fully supportive of her and that she was very grateful for this. She also added "I would like to say that I worked hard on my performance, but I would like to thank all of the team around me who have helped and supported me in Oslo." She seemed delighted to draw first position in the Final.
Next to speak were Ovi & Paula Seling of Romania. Ovi thanked the Norwegian public for their support. Paula said "We tried to create sparks on stage with our relationship at the piano, and we are glad that was recognised tonight." Ovi added "We will use even more fire and fireworks in the Final if you didn't have enough already!"
The penultimate artist to comment was Eva Rivas of Armenia. Eva congratulated all of the other nine winners tonight. An Armenian supporter gave Eva Rivas a T-shirt depicting an apricot stone which she promptly wore straight away. Eva felt that the Final would be a real battle but that all of the artists were all friends. The team were delighted with draw position number 21.
Having waited through the previous nine envelopes, Chanée & N'evergreen of Denmark were the last to be announced as qualifiers. They also drew the last starting position of number 25 in the Final. Chanée said that she almost had a heart attack waiting for the last envelope to open. N'evergreen said that he was sure the last envelope decision was between Denmark and Sweden and was so relieved to see the red and white flag to emerge from that envelope. Both singers admitted they had goosebumps on stage, but were diplomatic when asked about their chances of victory saying that the competition was tough this year."
So, the line up for the Final of the Eurovision Song Contest is now complete, and the rehearsals will start all over again tomorrow with the respective artists assuming their new positions in the draw. Stay tuned to Eurovision.tv to follow all of the action first hand from Oslo.
