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Date: 3 May 1986 - Host Venue: Grieghallen - Bergen, Norway
Presenter: Åse Kleveland - Conductor: Egil Monn-Iversen
Directed by John Andreassen - Executive supervisor: Frank Naef
Host broadcaster: Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK)
Opening act: "Welcome to Music" performed by Åse Kleveland
Interval act: "Bergensiana" performed by Sissel Kyrkjebø and Steinar Ofsdal
German Language Commentary: ORF (Austria) by Ernst Grissemann

The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 3 May 1986 in Grieghallen in Bergen, Norway. It was the first occasion on which Norway played host to the contest. The presenter was Åse Kleveland, a well-known folk guitarist who was President of the Norwegian Association of Musicians (and a former Eurovision entrant, in 1966).

A week before the event the worst nuclear disaster in history both in terms of cost and casualties occured in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the north of the Ukrainian SSR. Many participants in Bergen were afraid of nuclear smog those days, for the radioactive cloud had mostly spread in a North bound direction across Europe. But no one was harmed.

The 1986 contest was a first for Eurovision in that royalty were among the guests—Crown Prince Harald, Crown Princess Sonja, Princess Märtha Louise and Prince Haakon Magnus were all in attendance.

Sandra Kim was the winner of this Eurovision with the song "J'aime la vie", representing Belgium. Aged 13, Kim was the youngest ever Eurovision winner. Current rules require Eurovision Song Contest participants to be at least 16, so unless the rule is changed, Kim's record will never be broken. In the lyrics of her song, Kim claimed to be 15 years of age, but after the contest, it was revealed that she was actually 13. Switzerland, who finished second, appealed for her to be disqualified, but it was not successful.

As this was the first time Norway hosted a Eurovision Song Contest, NRK commissioned a lavish budget for the event, turning Grieghallen into a Viking-esque "ice palace" for the live show, complete with white and pastel neon lights for the stage. In addition, NRK also had a special diamond-encrusted dress made for presenter Åse Kleveland for her opening number. The prized dress, which weighed upwards of 15 pounds (6.8 kg), is still available for viewing at NRK's costuming department at Marienlyst in Oslo.

Kleveland sang the multilingual "Welcome to Music" as the opening act, During her opening speech, Kleveland said of Norway's road in the contest, "For those of you who have followed Norway's course through the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, you will know that it has been quite thorny, in fact. So, imagine our joy when last year we finally won, and the pleasure we feel today, being able to welcome 700 million viewers to the top of Europe, to Norway, and to Bergen."

One of the interval acts presented featured Norwegian musicians Sissel Kyrkjebø and Steinar Ofsdal, accompanied by Norwegian national broadcasting orchestra, Kringkastingsorkesteret (KORK). They opened with the traditional song of the city of Bergen, Udsikter fra Ulriken (also known as "Nystemte'n"), and presented a number of familiar tunes while showing the sights and sounds of Bergen area. Ofsdal played a range of traditional Norwegian folk instruments such as accordion, recorder and hardingfele. The presentation launched Kyrkjebø into a career as an internationally recognized artist. Iceland competed for the first time, as the national broadcaster RÚV finally cemented their satellite television connections with the rest of Europe. Italy and Greece sent no entry to Bergen.

Starter List:

Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points
01 Luxembourg Sherisse Laurence "L'amour de ma vie" French 3 117
02 Yugoslavia Doris Dragović "Željo moja" Croatian 11 49
03 France Cocktail Chic "Européennes" French 17 13
04 Norway Ketil Stokkan "Romeo" Norwegian 12 44
05 United Kingdom Ryder "Runner in the Night" English 7 72
06 Iceland ICY "Gleðibankinn" Icelandic 16 19
07 Netherlands Frizzle Sizzle "Alles heeft ritme" Dutch 13 40
08 Turkey Klips ve Onlar "Halley" Turkish 9 53
09 Spain Cadillac "Valentino" Spanish 10 51
10 Switzerland Daniela Simmons "Pas pour moi" French 2 140
11 Israel Moti Giladi & Sarai Tzuriel "Yavo Yom" (יבוא יום) Hebrew 19 7
12 Ireland Luv Bug "You Can Count On Me" English 4 96
13 Belgium Sandra Kim "J'aime la vie" French 1 176
14 Germany Ingrid Peters "Über die Brücke geh'n" German 8 62
15 Cyprus Elpida "Tora zo" (Τώρα ζω) Greek 20 4
16 Austria Timna Brauer "Die Zeit ist einsam" German 18 12
17 Sweden Lasse Holm & Monica Törnell "E' de' det här du kallar kärlek?" Swedish 5 78
18 Denmark Lise Haavik "Du er fuld af løgn" Danish 6 77
19 Finland Kari Kuivalainen "Never the End" Finnish 15 22
20 Portugal Dora "Não sejas mau para mim" Portuguese 14 28