STOCKHOLM 2000

A record-breaking 13,000 enthusiastic spectators were ready for the big Final of the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest in the Globen Arena in Stockholm.

25 participating countries were intended for the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest, but Greece decided not to participate, so only 24 took part as the European Broadcasting Union did not find a replacement in time for the last spot. Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Lithuania, Romania and Bosnia & Herzegovina were not allowed to take part due to their bad average scores. Latvia made its debut this year, and the entry My Star performed by the group Brainstorm did really well, finishing in third position. Estonia finished fourth with Ines’ Once In A Lifetime which was the bookmaker’s favourite. Internet polls also had the United Kingdom and the Netherlands as favourites but these countries only finished 16th and 13th respectively.

13,000 spectators were at the final in the Globen Arena in Stockholm, which was a new record. This record did not last long, though. Already at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen 2001, the record was exceeded. The Israeli participants caused a stir when members of the group Ping Pong started waving the Syrian flag during their performance. The Netherlands had to use a back-up jury for their votes because of a large fireworks disaster in the city of Enschede, which meant that only half of the song contest was aired live on Dutch television.

Despite the fact that Denmark’s song Fly On The Wings Of Love by the Olsen Brothers climbed in the predicted rankings in the week prior to the final, the Scandinavian country was only thought to finish in 18th position. Therefore it came as a huge surprise for many that the charming Olsen Brothers won – and with a large margin to the runner-up, Russia. Fly on the wings of love went on to become a huge hit in Scandinavia and the German-speaking countries. The Russian delegation petitioned the disqualification of the winner, Denmark, because a vocoder had been used to give one of the performers in the Danish duo, Jørgen Olsen, an electronic sound to his voice during one part of their performance.

For the first time in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, an official CD was released which included all 24 songs. Since then, CDs with all entries have been released every year.

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