Eurovision Song Contest 1986

Eurovision Song Contest 1986
Dates
Final	3 May 1986
Host
Venue	Grieghallen Bergen, Norway
Presenter(s)	Åse Kleveland
Musical director	Egil Monn-Iversen
Directed by	John Andreassen
Supervisor	Frank Naef
Executive producer	Harald Tusberg
Host broadcaster	Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/bergen-1986
Participants
Number of entries	20
Debuting countries	Iceland
Returning countries	Netherlands  Yugoslavia
Non-returning countries	Greece  Italy
Participation map      Competing countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1986
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Winning song	Belgium "J'aime la vie"
1985 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1987

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The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Bergen, Norway, following the country's victory at the 1985 contest with the song "La det swinge" by Bobbysocks! Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), the contest was held at Grieghallen on 3 May 1986 and was hosted by previous Norwegian contestant Åse Kleveland.

Twenty countries took part in this year's contest with Greece and Italy deciding not to participate and Yugoslavia and Netherlands returning. Iceland also competed for the first time this year.

The winner was Belgium with the song "J'aime la vie" by Sandra Kim. Belgium was the last of the original 7 countries that had competed in the first contest to win. 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. The lyrics of her song implied that Kim was 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 was not successful.^{[citation needed]}

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.