About Ukraine...

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: N/A
Position in Semi Final: N/A

Points in Final: 235
Position in Final: 2nd
More about the 2007 result for Ukraine

2008 Contest: Directly qualified to Final

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History (1956 to 2006)

Ukraine's previous appearances: 4 year(s) out of 51 [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.

In 2006, however, Ukraine once again followed up a poor result with a very good one, Tina Karol's charm and extraordinary voice managing to lift 'Show me your love' to an impressive 7th place in both the Semi Final and the Final, much better than any of the pre-Contest polls had suggested. Consequently, Ukraine benefits from being directly qualified for the Final in 2007.
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: N/A
Position in Final draw: 18

What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"Here we go again... Ukraine joins the Eurovision comedy bandwagon in 2007, sending the drag act Verka Serduchka - the alter ego of 33-year-old Andrey Danilko - to Helsinki with the 'song' 'Dancing lasha tumbai'. Scarily I found myself humming the tune to this after one listen, and this suggests it may have a little more going for it musically than some of the other so-called 'humorous' entries in this year's Contest. However, with Romania, France and Ukraine all directly qualified to the Final, we can only wait and see how much outrageousness the televoting public can tolerate in one evening."

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What I predicted...

My prediction for Semi Final: N/A
My prediction for Final: 5th to 7th, possible winner
What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"I think this song is the strongest of the novelty entries in this year's Contest, and could do rather well - a top five placing would be perfectly reasonable, and - depending on the public mood - Verka might even be a challenger for victory."
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 Ukraine are shown in the tables below:

Points awarded to Ukraine overall:
AL	3	AD	1	AM	0	AT	0	BY	12	BE	0
BA	0	BG	0	HR	2	CY	0	CZ	0	DK	0
EE	0	FI	0	FR	0	GE	0	DE	10	GR	0
HU	0	IS	4	IE	0	IL	0	LV	12	LT	0
MK	0	MT	0	MD	6	ME	0	NL	1	NO	2
PL	8	PT	3	RO	8	RU	10	RS	0	SI	0
ES	0	SE	0	CH	12	TR	0	UA	X	UK	0
WO	0	Last updated: 12 May 2007 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 94, from 15/43 juries
Position: 10 out of 42

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

Points awarded to Ukraine in the Final:
AL	4	AD	7	AM	0	AT	4	BY	12	BE	0
BA	0	BG	0	HR	2	CY	0	CZ	0	DK	0
EE	0	FI	0	FR	0	GE	1	DE	10	GR	0
HU	0	IS	7	IE	0	IL	0	LV	12	LT	0
MK	0