Eurovision 2016: Why Dami Im's loss is a victory for Australia

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This was published 7 years ago

Eurovision 2016: Why Dami Im's loss is a victory for Australia

By Michael Idato
Updated

In the end it came down to 23 points on a leaderboard with 26 competitors where scores were measured in the many hundreds.

At the last second, victory was snatched from Australia's hands, by an equally deserving Ukraine.

Inside the Ericsson Global arena you could hear a pin drop. The vast chamber, its 10,500 occupants and the adjacent press centre fell deathly quiet as hosts Måns Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede applied the final scores.

Ukraine won the contest with 534 points. Australia followed with 511 points.

Australia's Dami Im in Stockholm.

Australia's Dami Im in Stockholm.Credit: Martin Meissner

While it is a tiny margin, it represents a significant gain for Australia, a country which has competed for only two of the competition's 61-year history.

Last year's entry, Guy Sebastian, came fifth. To have clawed up three ranks to second place is an astonishing result.

Dami Im's achievement is compounded by the fact that she had to fight her way through the semi-final in order to book a berth in the final. Last year, Sebastian was given a wild card straight into the final.

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The Eurovision Song Contest introduced a new voting system this year, one intended to keep the identity of the competition's winner until the last possible second.

Under the new system, the votes from the professional jury were announced by crossing live to each country. Those scores firmly placed Australia in the lead.

The second phase of the voting - audience-voted "televotes" - was this year added instead of averaged, and the points were applied from lowest scoring country to highest.

In effect it strung out the tension and left the auditorium guessing which of the three strongest performing countries - Australia, Ukraine or Russia - would eventually claim the win.

Australia's presence in the competition continues to perplex many, even if our presence in the host city is one which is met with a warm embrace.

Sweden, which gave Australia it's 12-point score, was particularly generous, both in competition, and around the city where there was a huge wave of affection for Im, and for her song, Sound of Silence.

Whether we return next year remains an unanswered question. Last year we got a wild card. This year we were personally invited by the host city, Sweden.

Next year? It's difficult to say, but with a score of 511 to our name, it would be a shame to deny Australia a shot at the crown.

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