Today the 32nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest took place in Brussels, Belgium, following the country’s victory at the 1986 contest with the song “J’aime la vie” by Sandra Kim. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française(RTBF), the contest was held at the Centenary Palace on 9 May 1987 (also Europe Day) and hosted by French-Belgian singer Viktor Lazlo.
By 1986, Belgium has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 30 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956 along 6 other countries. Before Sandra Kim’s win, Belgium was the only one of the 7 founding countries to have never won the contest and had only twice finished in the top five (with Tonia’s fourth place in 1966 and Jean Vallée’s second place in 1978).
Twenty-two countries took part in the contest with Greece and Italy returning to the competition after their absences the previous year. This set the record for the highest number of competing countries up until that point.
The winner was Ireland with the song “Hold Me Now” by Johnny Logan, who had also won the 1980 contest. He was the first performer to have won the Eurovision Song Contest twice.
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