About Belarus...

2007 Result
History (1956 to 2006)
This year's entry
What I predicted...
What you thought...
What actually happened

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2007 Result

Points in Semi Final: 176
Position in Semi Final: 4th

Points in Final: 145
Position in Final: 6th
More about the 2007 result for Belarus

2008 Contest: Directly qualified to Final

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History (1956 to 2006)

Belarus's previous appearances: 3 year(s) out of 51 [note]
Years participated: 2004- [note]
Best result: 13th in Semi (2005)

Belarus was one of four countries participating for the first time in 2004, but while some of the newcomers did very well (Serbia & Montenegro in 2nd, Albania in 7th), Belarus unfortunately did very badly, 'My Galileo' finishing 19th in the Semi Final with just 10 points.

Undeterred, the country came back for another go in 2005, its entry one of the big stories of that year's Contest. To start with, the Belarussian broadcaster caused a bit of a stir by ditching the song that televoters had chosen, having been alarmed at the critical reaction to the song - 'Boys and girls', performed by Angelica Agurbash - among fans. It thus went ahead and commisioned a new song for Angelica, 'Love me tonight', from the team responsible for Sakis' 'Shake it' in 2004 - the Greek duo Nikos Terzis and Nektarios Tyrakis. With a promotional budget that allowed Angelica to visit an incredible 16 countries prior to the Contest, the Belarussian's clearly thought that their qualification to the Final was sewn up. Unfortunately, Belarus' 2005 experience proved that vast amounts of promotion and hype are of little value if your chosen performer is unable to carry a tune. Despite one of the campest performances Eurovision had ever seen, the televoters were generally unimpressed, 67 points and 13th place falling some way short of what was required.

Undeterred, the enthusiastic Belarussians came back for another go in 2006, where - unusually - Polina Smolova got to perform the song that she had actually won the national final with, though only after its title had morphed from 'Mama' to 'Ma' and finally to 'Mum'. However, 'Pah!' might have been a more apt ode to European sentiment, with all but Russia, Moldova and Ukraine ignoring the song completely. Marooned in the Semi Final for the fourth successive year in 2007, Belarus will be hoping that some of its success in the Junior Eurovision (Kseniya winning it in 2005) can finally rub off on the adults.
Get 'The Eurovision Song Contest: The Offical History' at Amazon.co.uk

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This year's entry

Position in Semi Final draw: 4
Position in Final draw: 3

What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"Belarus will be represented by Dmitry (Dima) Koldun in Helsinki (credited simply as Koldun, it would appear) performing the song 'Work your magic'. The composer is the flamboyant Fillip Kirkorov, known to Eurovision fans as Russia's entrant in 1995, and as the ex-husband of Alla Pugacheva (Russia, 1997). Following the same selection process used in 2005 and 2006, televoters whittled the original finalists down to a shortlist of three, from which an internal jury chose the country's Eurovision representative. However, echoing the events around Angelica Agurbash in 2005, Dmitry's qualifying song from the Belarussian semi final, 'Dream angel', was replaced prior to the final selection despite being the televoters' favourite.

Fortunately, the change appears to have paid off, as 'Work your magic' is simply fabulous - three minutes of thunderous camp with a dramatic intro, memorable lyrics and a killer chorus. "

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What I predicted...

My prediction for Semi Final: 1st to 3rd
My prediction for Final: Definite qualifier; 1st to 3rd, possible winner
What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"The Belarussians seem to have reflected on Russia's success in 2006, choosing their own extremely handsome boy called Dima, with a song that has a faint but niggling resemblance to 'Never let you go'. Crucially, though every previous Belarussian entry has also been performed in English, this is the first year you can actually tell.

Dima has a fantastic, powerful voice - even better than his Russian namesake - and as long as he gives a great vocal performance and flashes enough bare chest, 'Work your magic' could do VERY well indeed in Helsinki. The polls and betting suggest that Belarus is a real contender thais year, and it would be a fool who disagreed - this is a song that should qualify for the Final with ease, and that has a good chance of taking us all to Minsk in 2008."
Want an alternative prediction? See Simon Hylands' 'Je t'adore, Eurovision!' site

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What you thought...

View the final leader board

In the run up to the Contest, 1,274 visitors to this site awarded points to their favourite songs in the Soult.com Eurovision Jury Vote 2007, voting as a representative of their own country's 'jury'. The votes awarded by representatives of each country were totalled, with each of the 42 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 Belarus are shown in the tables below:

Points awarded to Belarus overall:
AL	0	AD	0	AM	0	AT	6	BY	X	BE	1
BA	0	BG	0	HR	0	CY	3	CZ	0	DK	6
EE	7	FI	6	FR	1	GE	0	DE	3	GR	8
HU	4	IS	0	IE	0	IL	4	LV	8	LT	12
MK	8	MT	8	MD	10	ME	0	NL	0	NO	5
PL	6	PT	4	RO	6	RU	12	RS	5	SI	5
ES	2	SE	8	CH	0	TR	4	UA	3	UK	3
WO	2	Last updated: 12 May 2007 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 160, from 29/43 juries
Position: 5 out of 42

Points awarded to Belarus in the Semi Final:
AL	0	AD	0	AM	0	AT	8	BY	X	BE	4
BA	0	BG	1	HR	1	CY	8	CZ	0	DK	8
EE	10	FI	8	FR	6	GE	2	DE	5	GR	8
HU	5	IS	6	IE	2	IL	7	LV	10	LT	12
MK	8	MT	10	MD	12	ME	2	NL	0	NO	7
PL	8	PT	6	RO	8	RU	12	RS	8	SI	7
ES	4	SE	8	CH	0	TR	8	UA	6	UK	6
WO	5	Last updated: 12 May 2007 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 236, from 35/43 juries
Position: 3 out of 28

Points awarded to Belarus in the Final:
AL	0	AD	0	AM	0	AT	6	BY	X	BE	1
BA	0	BG	1	HR	0	CY	3	CZ	0	DK	7
EE	7	FI	6	FR	2	GE	0	DE	3	GR	8
HU	5	IS	0	IE	0	IL	6	LV	8	LT	12
MK