Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1976

On the night of the final Strøm performed 9th in the running order, following the Netherlands and preceding Greece. "Mata Hari" was an uptempo song which had been given a very contemporary disco arrangement, and prior to the contest had attracted more attention than was the norm for Norwegian entries at the time. It was not expected to challenge for the win as the consensus was that the title would be fought out between France and the United Kingdom, but was widely predicted as likely to give Norway one of its better placements to date. However things did not go to plan, and at the close of voting "Mata Hari" had picked up only 7 points (4 from Portugal and 3 from the Netherlands), placing Norway last of the 18 entries, the fourth time the country had finished the evening at the foot of the scoreboard. However, in the broadcast, France failed to award its 4 points to Yugoslavia, so the two countries swapped places. In the wake of the poor result, it was widely suggested that Strøm's odd presentation – in which she appeared on stage in a very unflattering pair of sunglasses, which she proceeded at apparently random intervals to remove and wave around and then put back on again – may have been puzzling and distracting for viewers and juries. The Norwegian jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners the United Kingdom.[2]

Points awarded by Norway

12 points	United Kingdom
10 points	Switzerland
8 points	France
7 points	Israel
6 points	Belgium
5 points	Monaco
4 points	Finland
3 points	Italy
2 points	Austria
1 point	Netherlands

• Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Eurovision Song Contest 1976