Eurovision Song Contest 2002
The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the 47th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 25 May 2002 at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, Estonia, and presented by Annely Peebo and Marko Matvere. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union and host broadcaster Eesti Televisioon, who staged the event after winning the for with the song "Everybody" by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. It was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in one of the former Soviet republics.
Broadcasters from twenty-four countries participated in the contest.,,,,,, and returned after their relegation from the previous edition.,,,, and were relegated due to their poor results in 2001. It was the first time Ireland and Norway were relegated from the contest. was also set to sit out this year, but when announced their non-participation, due to internal problems at its broadcaster, it left a spot open for Latvia to take, as the country had finished higher the year before than any of the other relegated countries. This would go on to be very fortunate for Latvia as it ended up winning the contest with the song "I Wanna", performed by Marie N, who wrote it alongside Marats Samauskis., the,, and rounded out the top five. Malta achieved their best result in their Eurovision history, coming second. Further down the table, finished twenty-fourth and last, their worst result up until that point, despite having been declared one of the favourites to win the competition beforehand.
Location
is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki in Finland. Tallinn's Old Town is one of the best preserved and intact medieval cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Venue
Early in the proceedings, media outlets had begun speculating whether Eesti Televisioon would be able to host the contest, citing a lack of a suitable venue and budgetary concerns. Due to this, Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services and Dutch broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting both expressed interest in hosting in the event in respective countries instead of Estonia. However, worries were put to rest when a combination of fundraising activities and the Estonian Government enabled them to host the event.On 19 June 2001, it was announced that Estonia would still host the 2002 contest. The Saku Suurhall was ultimately chosen as the venue for the contest. It is the largest indoor arena in Estonia, built in 2001 and holds up to 10,000 people. It is named after the Estonian brewery and soft drink company Saku.
Participants
The European Broadcasting Union had originally set the total number of participants to 22, but when it increased that number to 24, it granted and, which had finished 16th and 17th in, the opportunity to enter. Portuguese broadcaster Radiotelevisão Portuguesa declined to enter the contest due to internal problems. This allowed eventual winner, who finished 18th in 2001, to enter. Despite finishing in joint 18th place with the Netherlands in 2001, tiebreaking rules put Latvia higher due to receiving more sets of 8 points.Broadcasters from a total of 24 countries competed in the 2002 contest, which included the 16 top placing countries from the previous year's contest and Latvia, alongside the seven returning countries, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Macedonia, Romania, and Switzerland, which had been relegated from competing in the 2001 contest. These seven countries replaced the bottom 5 countries from the 2001 contest - Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, and Poland, all of which were relegated from taking part in this year's contest, as well as Portugal, who decided not to compete. The draw for the running order took place on 9 November 2001.
Several of the performing artists had previously competed in past editions. Constantinos Christoforou, a member of One, had represented ; while Philippos Constantinos, another member of the band, had provided backing vocals for., a member of representing Belgium, had provided backing vocals for the,,, and ; while, another member of the band, had also provided backing vocals for the Netherlands in 1996. Sahlene representing Estonia, had provided backing vocals for and. Monica Anghel had represented, but failed to progress from the qualifying round. In addition, Christina Argyri, who represented as part of, and, who represented with, provided backing vocals for the same country.
| Country | Broadcaster | Artist | Song | Language | Songwriter |
| ORF | Manuel Ortega | "Say a Word" | English | ||
| VRT | "Sister" | English | |||
| PBSBiH | Maja | "Na jastuku za dvoje" | Serbian, English | ||
| HRT | Vesna Pisarović | "Everything I Want" | English | Milana Vlaović | |
| CyBC | One | "Gimme" | English | George Theofanous | |
| DR | Malene | "Tell Me Who You Are" | English | Michael Ronson | |
| ETV | Sahlene | "Runaway" | English | ||
| YLE | Laura | "Addicted to You" | English | ||
| France Télévisions | Sandrine François | "Il faut du temps" | French | ||
| NDR | Corinna May | "I Can't Live Without Music" | English | ||
| ERT | Michalis Rakintzis | "S.A.G.A.P.O." | English | Michalis Rakintzis | |
| IBA | Sarit Hadad | "Light a Candle" | Hebrew, English | ||
| LTV | Marie N | "I Wanna" | English | ||
| LRT | Aivaras | "Happy You" | English | Aivaras Stepukonis | |
| MRT | Karolina | "Od nas zavisi" | Macedonian | ||
| PBS | Ira Losco | "7th Wonder" | English | ||
| TVR | Monica Anghel and Marcel Pavel | "Tell Me Why" | English | ||
| ORT | Prime Minister | "Northern Girl" | English | ||
| RTVSLO | Sestre | "Samo ljubezen" | Slovene | ||
| TVE | Rosa | "Europe's Living a Celebration" | Spanish | ||
| SVT | Afro-dite | "Never Let It Go" | English | ||
| SRG SSR | Francine Jordi | "Dans le jardin de mon âme" | French | Francine Lehmann | |
| TRT | and Group Safir | "Leylaklar Soldu Kalbinde" | Turkish, English | ||
| BBC | Jessica Garlick | "Come Back" | English | Martyn Baylay |
Format
For the first time, a slogan was implemented. This year's theme was called 'A Modern Fairytale', which was evident in the postcards shown between the songs, which showed classic fairytales ending in modern Estonian situations.The postcards continued with the opening theme of "A Modern Fairytale" taking well known fairy tales and translating them into Estonian life through short films, with a moral at the end of each one of them.
Contest overview
The contest was held on 25 May 2002 at 22:00 EEST and was won by Latvia. The table below outlines the participating countries, the order in which they performed, the competing artists and songs, and the results of the voting.Latvia won with 176 points. Malta came second with 164 points, with Estonia, United Kingdom, France, Cyprus, Spain, Sweden, Romania and Russia completing the top ten. Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Lithuania and Denmark occupied the bottom five positions.
| Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place | |
| 1 | One | "Gimme" | 85 | 6 | |
| 2 | "Come Back" | 111 | 3 | ||
| 3 | "Say a Word" | 26 | 18 | ||
| 4 | "S.A.G.A.P.O." | 27 | 17 | ||
| 5 | Rosa | "Europe's Living a Celebration" | 81 | 7 | |
| 6 | "Everything I Want" | 44 | 11 | ||
| 7 | Prime Minister | "Northern Girl" | 55 | 10 | |
| 8 | Sahlene | "Runaway" | 111 | 3 | |
| 9 | Karolina | "Od nas zavisi" | 25 | 19 | |
| 10 | "Light a Candle" | 37 | 12 | ||
| 11 | "Dans le jardin de mon âme" | 15 | 22 | ||
| 12 | Afro-dite | "Never Let It Go" | 72 | 8 | |
| 13 | Laura | "Addicted to You" | 24 | 20 | |
| 14 | Malene | "Tell Me Who You Are" | 7 | 24 | |
| 15 | Maja | "Na jastuku za dvoje" | 33 | 13 | |
| 16 | Sergio and the Ladies | "Sister" | 33 | 13 | |
| 17 | "Il faut du temps" | 104 | 5 | ||
| 18 | "I Can't Live Without Music" | 17 | 21 | ||
| 19 | and Group Safir | "Leylaklar Soldu Kalbinde" | 29 | 16 | |
| 20 | "7th Wonder" | 164 | 2 | ||
| 21 | and Marcel Pavel | "Tell Me Why" | 71 | 9 | |
| 22 | Sestre | "Samo ljubezen" | 33 | 13 | |
| 23 | "I Wanna" | 176 | 1 | ||
| 24 | Aivaras | "Happy You" | 12 | 23 |