Sakis apology

As soon as the ESC results came out, Sakis Rouvas did not conceal his sorrow for his failure to win the 54th ESC trophy. The Greek pop icon finished seventh, with the Norwegian entrant, Alexander Rybak luring Europe with his "fairytale." "I wanted to win and I tried a lot," said Sakis Rouvas, shortly after the release of the results. "I want to apologize for failing to live up to the expectations of those Greek who believed in us. I am not happy with the outcome, but I am happy for what I did, because I put my heart and soul in it. My goal was to bring the Eurovision Song Contest to Greece. I was not interested in the second or third place. However, I got something out of this experience, both as an artist and a human. I love you all and I am sorry I did not make it," concluded the Greek super star.

The ESC in Numbers

• Alexander Rybak scored 387b points, breaking the record.
• It was Norway's third ESC victory.
• Greece is the only participating nation that has been earning a place in the top ten since 2004, the year the semi-final system was introduced.
• The United Kingdom and France had not managed to land a place in the top ten for seven years.
• 7.3 million Germany viewers and 5.7 million French watched the ESC on the small screen.
• 63.000 Internet users tuned on ERT's official website, eurovision.ert.gr, to watch the ESC final.

18 MAY 2009

ert.gr