Belgium was represented by

Sandra Kim Sandra Caldarone (born 15 October 1972), better known as Sandra Kim, is a Belgian singer of Italian descent who won the Eurovision Song Contest 1986. Her father was an Italian immigrant from Torrebruna in the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo re ...

with the song "

J'aime la vie "J'aime la vie" (; "I Love Life") was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1986, performed for by Sandra Kim. Belgium had finished the 1985 contest in last place, and thus achieved the rare turnaround from last to first in the space o ...

" at the Eurovision Song Contest 1986, held in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. For 1986 (like in other even-numbered years), the Walloon broadcaster in Belgium, Radio télévision belge de la communauté française (RTBF), took responsibility for Eurovision song selection. As a result, all of the competing songs for 1986 were sung in French.

Before Eurovision

Eurovision '86

The Belgian national final to select their entry, ''Eurovision '86'', was held on 2 March at the RTBF-TV Studios in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, and was hosted by Patrick Duhamel. The winning song was decided by the following formula: 50% of the final tabulation would come from 12 "music experts" and 50% would come from 500 random Belgians polled to make up a fair segment of the Belgian population. The winning entry was "

", performed by

, composed by Jean-Paul Furnémont and Angelo Crisci, with lyrics written by Rosario Marino Atria.

At Eurovision

Sandra Kim performed thirteenth on the night of the Contest, following

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and preceding

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. At the close of the voting the song had received 176 points, placing 1st in a field of 20 competing countries. It was the first win for Belgium in the Contest, something they have not been able to replicate since. Belgium scored an absolute record at the time, with Sandra Kim earning a never seen before number of 176 points (that record remained until 1993, with Ireland scoring 187 points), an average of 9.26 points per voting nation. Kim received 77.2% of the maximum possible score, which, as of 2016, still ranks 8th among all Eurovision winners.

Voting

References

External links

Belgian National Final 1986
{{Eurovision Song Contest 1986

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 Eurovision