Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000
Estonia was represented by Ines, with the song '"Once in a Lifetime", at the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 13 May in Stockholm. "Once in a Lifetime" was chosen as the Estonian entry at the national final, Eurolaul, on 5 February.
| Eurovision Song Contest 2000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Estonia | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Eurolaul 2000 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 5 February 2000 | |||
| Selected entrant | Ines | |||
| Selected song | "Once in a Lifetime" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 4th, 98 points | |||
| Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Before Eurovision
Eurolaul 2000
The final was held at the studios of broadcaster ETV in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop. Ten songs took part with the winner being chosen by a 10-member "expert" international jury.[1]
| Final – 5 February 2000 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
| 1 | Maian Kärmas | "Mõistus ja tunded" | Maian Kärmas | 68 | 4 |
| 2 | White Satin | "Church of Love" | Sulev Lõhmus | 42 | 9 |
| 3 | Ines | "Kuulatan su ootamist" | Lauri Saatpalu | 43 | 8 |
| 4 | Sarah & Lea | "Sunshine" | Peter Ross | 36 | 10 |
| 5 | Maian Kärmas | "One Sweet Moment" | Maian Kärmas | 57 | 5 |
| 6 | Hedvig Hanson & Mac McFall | "When We're Flying High" | Hedvig Hanson | 77 | 2 |
| 7 | Siiri Sisask | "Goodnight" | Siiri Sisask, Tomi Rahula | 45 | 6 |
| 8 | Kate | "Verevend" | Villu Kangur, Aivar Joonas | 45 | 6 |
| 9 | Ines | "Once in a Lifetime" | Jana Hallas, Pearu Paulus, Ilmar Laisaar, Alar Kotkas | 98 | 1 |
| 10 | Evelin Samuel | "Over the Water Blue" | Evelin Samuel, Priit Pajusaar, Glen Pilvre | 69 | 3 |
| Detailed International Jury Votes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Song |  SLO |
 IRL |
 FRA |
 GER |
 SWE |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} BEL |
 POR |
 GBR |
 ISL |
 ISR |
Total |
| 1 | "Mõistus ja tunded" | 4 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 68 |
| 2 | "Church of Love" | 6 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 42 |
| 3 | "Kuulatan su ootamist" | 8 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 43 |
| 4 | "Sunshine" | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 36 |
| 5 | "One Sweet Moment" | 3 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 57 |
| 6 | "When We're Flying High" | 10 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 77 |
| 7 | "Goodnight" | 2 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 45 |
| 8 | "Verevend" | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 46 |
| 9 | "Once in a Lifetime" | 12 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 98 |
| 10 | "Over the Water Blue" | 7 | 8 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 69 |
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Ines performed 4th in the running order, following the United Kingdom and preceding France. "Once in a Lifetime" had been tipped beforehand as a potential contest winner, and although in the event it never challenged for victory in the voting, at the close it had picked up 98 points, placing Estonia 4th of the 24 entries, their highest finish up to that time. However Ines claimed in a 2002 BBC documentary that she had been widely criticised on her return to Estonia, where people had been fully expecting a victory and felt let down that she had been unable to deliver it.[2]
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References
| Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest | |||||||||||||
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Note: Entries scored out are when Estonia did not compete | |||||||||||||