Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002
Greece and Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) chose to host a National Selection with the winner being chosen via 50% televoting and 50% "expert" jury. Michalis Rakintzis was chosen with "S.A.G.A.P.O."
| Eurovision Song Contest 2002 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Greece | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Ellinikós Telikós 2002 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 26 February 2002 | |||
| Selected entrant | Michalis Rakintzis | |||
| Selected song | "S.A.G.A.P.O." | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | ||||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 17th, 27 points | |||
| Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Before Eurovision
Ellinikós Telikós 2002
Ellinikós Telikós 2002 was the Greek national final developed by ERT to select the Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2002. The competition took place on 26 February 2002 at the REX Music Hall in Athens, hosted by Dafni Bokota and televised on ET1.[1]
Competing entries
40 songs were shortlisted out of 158 submitted by artists and composers, and ten were selected by a six-member committee to participate in the national final. The committee consisted of Giorgos Katsaros, Antonis Andrikakis, Giorgos Kyvelos, Lefteris Koggalidis, Dafni Bokota and Synia Kousoula.[2] The competing entries were announced on 10 January 2002.[3]
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Christos Giannopoulos | "Proti fthinoporini vrochi" | Christos Giannopoulos |
| Elina Konstantopoulou & Marion Georgiou | "Beautiful Life" | Konstantinos Tseleste Papakonstantinou, Iro Trigoni |
| Katerina Topazi | "Moiazei na 'nai sinema/Y tu cruel" | Ioannis Stinkas, Dimitris Sotakis, Xenofon Chalatsis |
| Kostas Bigalis & Mirella Fragkopoulou | "Let Me Be the One" | Kostas Bigalis |
| Maria-Louiza & Not 4 Sale | "2 Be Together" | Nikos Terzis, Antonis Pappas |
| Michalis Rakintzis | "S.A.G.A.P.O." | Michalis Rakintzis |
| Motive | "Fire" | Giannis Methenitis |
| Peggy Zina | "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" | Thanos Kalliris |
| Veronika | "Tu non c'eri qui" | Charalampos Persidis |
| Yiannis Kokkinos, Flora Theodorou, Ermioni Komninou & Tolis Kokkinos | "Pension – Sweet Home" | Christos Konstantinidis, Panagiotis Kalkos |
Final
The final took place on 26 February 2002. Ten songs competed and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top five songs were selected by jury voting to proceed to the second round. In the second round, the winner, "S.A.G.A.P.O." performed by Michalis Rakintzis, was selected by a 50/50 combination of public televoting and jury voting.[4] 94,341 votes were cast during the show.
| First Round – 26 February 2002 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Result |
| 1 | Kostas Bigalis & Mirella Fragkopoulou | "Let Me Be the One" | Advanced |
| 2 | Veronika | "Tu non c'eri qui" | Eliminated |
| 3 | Yiannis Kokkinos, Flora Theodorou, Ermioni Komninou & Tolis Kokkinos | "Pension – Sweet Home" | Eliminated |
| 4 | Christos Giannopoulos | "Proti fthinoporini vrochi" | Eliminated |
| 5 | Maria-Louiza & Not 4 Sale | "2 Be Together" | Advanced |
| 6 | Peggy Zina | "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" | Advanced |
| 7 | Elina Konstantopoulou & Marion Georgiou | "Beautiful Life" | Eliminated |
| 8 | Michalis Rakintzis | "S.A.G.A.P.O." | Advanced |
| 9 | Katerina Topazi | "Moiazei na 'nai sinema/Y tu cruel" | Eliminated |
| 10 | Motive | "Fire" | Advanced |
| Second Round – 26 February 2002 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |
| Votes | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Kostas Bigalis & Mirella Fragkopoulou | "Let Me Be the One" | 4 | 12,736 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
| 2 | Maria-Louiza & Not 4 Sale | "2 Be Together" | 2 | 12,936 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| 3 | Peggy Zina | "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" | 3 | 25,517 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| 4 | Michalis Rakintzis | "S.A.G.A.P.O." | 1 | 33,356 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | Motive | "Fire" | 5 | 9,796 | 5 | 10 | 5 |
At Eurovision
Rakintzis performed 3rd in the running order at the Eurovision 2002 final. He was accompanied on stage with four male singers/dancers all dressed in plastic robot type suits. The song finished 17th out of 24 with 27 points, tied as the worst placing for Greece in the 2000s.
Points awarded by Greece
| 12 points |  Cyprus |
| 10 points |  Latvia |
| 8 points |  Romania |
| 7 points |  United Kingdom |
| 6 points |  Malta |
| 5 points |  Croatia |
| 4 points |  Spain |
| 3 points |  France |
| 2 points |  Russia |
| 1 point |  Sweden |
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
References
- "Ο Μιχάλης Ρακιντζής στη Eurovision!!!" (in Greek). MAD TV. 2002-02-26. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
- "Παρασκήνια 2002: Μπάχαλα, τηλεπαράθυρα και καταγγελίες για κακή ηχοληψία και playback". INFE Greece. 13 February 2017.
- Bakker, Sietse (10 January 2002). "Greece announced 10 songs and participants". Esctoday.
- "Ellinikós Telikós 2002". 4lyrics.
See also
| Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest | |||||||||||||||||
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Note: Entries scored out are when Greece did not compete | |||||||||||||||||