Norway's Alexander Rybak, centre, and his team celebrate after winning the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow on Saturday night. (Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press)A young violinist and singer from Norway, Alexander Rybak, captured the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, smashing the record for the most points awarded in the competition's 54-year history.
"Thank you so much, Russia. You are just great, thank you," proclaimed a weepy Rybak, speaking in Russian from the stage after the result was announced Saturday night.
"You are the greatest public in the world," he said before launching into a repeat performance of the light-hearted love song Fairy Tale.
Viewers from 42 countries voted on the final 25 songs, with Norway garnering a record 387 points. The last time the Scandinavian country won was in 1995. As a result, it will host next year's event.
It was a nice gift ahead of Norway's national day, celebrated every May 17. Rybak invited his countrymen to greet him at Oslo's main airport on Sunday night.
For the first time ever, crew members of the International Space Station gave the command to start telephone voting in a video message from the orbiting laboratory.
Iceland came in second while Azerbaijan took third place.
Not the best singer: Rybak
Rybak, who left Belarus when he was four years old with his musician parents, was modest about his win.
Rybak repeats his performance after winning the contest. (Sergey Ponomarev/Associated Press)
"To be honest, I still think I'm far from being the best singer in this year's competition," the 23-year-old musician told reporters after the show.
"But I just had a story I wanted to tell. And I guess people liked that story and I also had a violin. I guess that helps."
The annual event, known for its trashy stagings, is watched by an estimated audience of 100 million.
Russia's hopes were on a the ballad Mamo, partially performed in Ukrainian by a Ukrainian-born artist Anastasia Prikhodko, but it landed far behind in 11th place.
Burlesque artiste Dita Von Teese, ex-wife of rocker Marilyn Manson, lent a little more skin to the festivities during Germany's act by straddling a shiny lip-shaped black sofa.
Von Teese stripped off her top down to sparkly nipple warmers — a more demure version of her original act after the European Broadcasting Union told her to keep it family friendly.
Britain was going into the contest as a favourite but it could only manage a fifth-place finish, with singer Jade, despite composer Andrew Lloyd Webber writing her song.
Bookmakers had also favoured Greece, which staged an elaborately choreographed performance involving a giant flashing treadmill.
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