About Ukraine...

2006 Result
History (1956 to 2005)
This year's entry
What I predicted...
What you thought...
What actually happened...
What the bookies thought...

top of page 

2006 Result

Points in Semi Final: 146
Position in Semi Final: 7th

Points in Final: 145
Position in Final: 7th
More about the 2006 result for Ukraine

2007 Contest: Directly qualified to Final

top of page 

History (1956 to 2005)

Ukraine's previous appearances: 3 year(s) out of 50 [note]
Years participated: 2003- [note]
Best result: 1st (2004)

Ukraine has a short but eventful history at Eurovision, only entering for the first time in 2003 but winning the Contest on its second attempt in 2004. In 2003, Despite having a song written by Tzvika Pick (the man behind Dana International's 'Diva'), performed by the established Ukrainian artist, Olexandr Ponomaryov, and accompanied by dancing acrobats, 'Hasta la vista' managed a slightly disappointing 14th place. Perhaps Olexandr should have taken a leaf out of Dana's book, and worn a Jean Paul Gaultier dress instead of his luminous (and quite tight) white suit? As a result, Ukraine narrowly missed out on an automatic place in the 2004 Final, and had to participate in the Semi Final first. It hardly mattered, however... Ruslana's 'Wild Dances' breezed through the Semi Final before stomping to victory - with points from 34 of the 35 other countries - in the Final. In doing so, leather-clad Ruslana seemed to reinforce the experience of Sertab from the year before - that combining a great song with impressive choreography is the way to win Eurovision in this age of televoting.

Credit to Ukraine, then, for trying something completely different in 2005, opting for Greenjolly's anthemic chant 'Razom nas bahato, nas nye podolaty', the soundtrack to December 2004's Orange Revolution in Ukraine. With its blatantly political message and repeated references to Victor Yushchenko (the man later confirmed as the country's President in the Boxing Day rerun poll), drastic rewriting was required at the behest of the European Broadcasting Union. Despite these changes, Ukraine was never really likely to perform well with this song at Eurovision, and so it proved - picking up just 30 points to finish in 20th place, most countries gave the Ukrainian entry a wide berth, with only five giving it any points at all. Consequently, Ukraine finds itself back in the Semi Final for 2006.
Get 'The Eurovision Song Contest: The Offical History' at Amazon.co.uk

top of page 

This year's entry

Position in Semi Final draw: 15
Position in Final draw: 18

What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"Ukraine has adopted the Irish 'You're a star' format for selecting its 2006 performer and song, rebadged as 'Ty-zirka', just at the point where Ireland has gone back to a more traditional national final. However, the whole point of using a talent show format was slightly undermined by the participation of Tina Karol, an already established artist, alongside all the newcomers. Given the advantage of her experience and profile, it was therefore little surprise to anyone when Tina won, performing the song 'I am your queen'. Still, at least Tina managed to secure an unequivocal victory in Ukraine - something few countries seem to have managed in 2006 - securing top marks from both the jury and televoters.

Unfortunately, though Tina has quite a strong voice, her song is very disappointing, despite having a new set of lyrics and a new title ('Show me your love' replacing the more enjoyable 'I am your queen'). Compositionally the song certainly owes something to Helena's winning entry from 2005, but somehow it doesn't work at all and ends up as a yelping racket more like Gracia's last-placed 'Run and hide'. I was hoping for a strong entry from Ukraine in 2006, but this is just a noisy three minutes that leaves little lasting impression. Even with a fantastic vocal and show on the night, it's hard to see Ukraine reaching the Final, never mind challenging for another Eurovision victory."

top of page 

What I predicted...

My prediction for Semi Final: 16th to 18th
My prediction for Final: Unlikely to qualify
See all my predictions for the 2006 Semi Final
See all my predictions for the 2006 Final

What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"This one worries me. Tina Karol's song is certainly less grating now that she's got rid of her queens, though it remains repetitive and rather yelping. However, some people have a sneaking regard for it, more so after a series of impressive rehearsal performances. There's a chance, of course, that they could be right, and that Ukraine could pull off a famous second victory. However, even Ukraine's neighbours were little help to it last year, and I suspect that we're once again looking at a result comparable to Greenjolly or Olexandr, rather than to Ruslana. Don't be surprised if i'm wrong though... "
Want an alternative prediction? See Simon Hylands' 'Je t'adore, Eurovision!' site

top of page 

What you thought...

View the final leader board

In the run up to the Contest, 1,721 visitors to this site awarded points to their favourite songs in the Soult.com Eurovision Jury Vote 2006, voting as a representative of their own country's 'jury'. The votes awarded by representatives of each country were totalled, with each of the 38 participating countries (plus the 'Rest of the World') then awarding points - 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - based on the overall voting preference of its representatives. The points awarded to the entry from Ukraine are shown in the tables below:

Points awarded to Ukraine overall:
AL	0	HR	0	GR	0	MK	0	PL	8	ES	0
AD	0	CY	0	IS	0	MT	0	PT	0	SE	0
AM	2	DK	0	IE	0	MD	10	RO	0	CH	0
BY	4	EE	0	IL	0	MC	0	RU	5	TR	0
BE	0	FI	0	LV	0	NL	0	CS	0	UA	X
BA	0	FR	0	LT	0	NO	0	SI	0	UK	0
BG	0	DE	4	WO	0	Last updated: 18 May 2006 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 33, from 6/39 juries
Position: 20 out of 37

Points awarded to Ukraine in the Semi Final:
AL	3	HR	0	GR	0	MK	0	PL	10	ES	0
AD	0	CY	0	IS	0	MT	0	PT	0	SE	0
AM	6	DK	0	IE	0	MD	12	RO	3	CH	0
BY	7	EE	2	IL	0	MC	0	RU	7	TR	0
BE	0	FI	0	LV	0	NL	0	CS	0	UA	X
BA	0	FR	0	LT	0	NO	0	SI	0	UK	0
BG	0	DE	6	WO	0	Last updated: 18 May 2006 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 56, from 9/39 juries
Position: 13 out of 23

Points awarded to Ukraine in the Final:
AL	0	HR	0	GR	0	MK	0	PL	0	ES	0
AD	0	CY	0	IS	0	MT	0	PT	0	SE	0
AM	0	DK	0	IE	0	MD	0	RO	0	CH	0
BY	0	EE	0	IL	0	MC	0	RU	0	TR	0
BE	0	FI	0	LV	0	NL	0	CS	0	UA	X
BA	0	FR	0	LT	0	NO	0