The press conference was just held for the 10 winning countries to give their views on how it felt to be competing on Saturday May 15th 2004.
The press conference room was chaotic as press members cheered and sang the winning songs. Deen from Bosnia Herzegovina started off the celebration by leaping onto the table and grinding up and down whilst singing his winning song. The FYR Macedonian delegation were particularly excited and the Serbia & Montengero band treated the press to an intrumental version of Lane Moje as the press conferrenace was about to begin.
FYR Macedonia was asked how they felt about being in the final, and Tose replied saying, �I want to thank everyone who voted for Macedonia as well as Turkey for hosting this event�. He treated press members to some opera upon request, blending into �Life is a book�.
Favorites Ukraine and Greece thanked fans who voted and Sakis invited everyone around the world to come to Athens and join in the unification of people and sport at the Olympic Games in Athens this summer. In regards to the contest he said, �This is a celebration of music, a celebration of people�. When asked whether he would win, he said, �The answer is in front of you. These people have amazing voices and brilliant performances�, implying stiff competition. Ruslana, through her translator, told of how happy she was that people voted for the Ukraine. She said more would be revealed about any changes to her performance tomorrow, should they occur, and a more indepth insight into her feelings.
Zjelko was asked what language he would be singing in on Saturday night. On saying Serbian, everybody cheered. He was also asked how he felt about representing his country and �breaking the ice� since 1992, saying he felt excited.
Less attention was paid to Albania, but Anjeza stated that people were probably more excited back home than she was. Lisa Andreas, who is the youngest performer in the contest at 16 said she had been treated no differently, as if she had been twenty-one. After the conference, composer Mike Connaris told esctoday.com that he is delighted with the draw that Cyprus has in the final. He had not realised at the time that the order the countries were drawn out was reflected in the final running order.
Croatia�s Ivan said, �Everything I do is for my family, and for my beautiful homeland Croatia�. The Netherlands were quizzed about how they felt about being the only western European country who qualified. Re-union told of how they had not even considerd this and implied they are now in the game and going for the big prize. When asked about any consolation for the 12 losers, they said �As far as we are concerned, eveyone is a winner as they had won they had won their own national competition�. Malta plan on resting tomorrow before giving it their all on Saturday to give the best performance possible.
The press conference concluded by thanking everybody for attending. Now a day off for everyone tomorrow before the rehersals for the final begin.
