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Germany wins 2010 Eurovision Song Contest

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Sunday 30 May 2010 00:00 BST
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Germany won this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo on Saturday with the punchy pop ballad "Satellite" sung by Lena, the second German to win the extravagant talent contest in its 55-year history.

"I'm so happy and so thankful and so grateful and I never thought that we could do this," the 19-year-old, who just finished her final exams, said.

Dark red lips trembling with emotion, the singer told the show's hosts she did not feel strong enough to lift her trophy.

"Thank you! This is so absolutely awesome and I feel like just, this is not real," she said, a German flag in her hands.

Germany last won the contest in 1982 and as this year's winner, will host the show next year.

Organisers said more than 120 million viewers across 39 European countries, but also as far afield as Myanmar, Australia and New Zealand, tuned in to the contest, one of the world's most watched events.

The show took place without any major incidents, but one of the 16,000 fans who had packed Oslo's Telenor Arena to watch the contest live managed to slip through security and onto the stage during Spain's performance.

Some in Spain identified the intruder as Jaume Marquet Cot, better known as "Jimmy Jump", a real estate agent from the separatist-minded region of Catalonia who is known for pitch invasions of several major sporting events.

They accused him of trying to ruin Daniel Diges' chances of winning Eurovision with "Algo Pequenito."

A total of 25 countries were competing in the final for the winner's prize, selected by specialist juries and by viewers voting by phone or text message in the 39 countries that took part in the contest.

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Turkey, Romania, Denmark and Azerbaijan respectively came in to take the other top spots behind Germany.

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