Chiara given heroine's welcome

The airport came to life very early this morning as hundreds of fans crammed the arrival lounge of Malta International Airport to welcome backChiara.

Pride seemed to be written on the people's faces with some carrying placards reading "Chiara We Love You" and pink flowers. A woman in the crowd carried above her head a half a metre high pink angel bearing Chiara's face.

The crowd burst into a frenzy shouting "Chiara, Chiara" and singing "We are united because Chiara is with us".

"She is our number one," a man was heard saying, a play on words on the title My Number One, the Greek entry which won the Eurovision.

Chiara arrived back in Malta at 1.20 a.m. and was first met by her sister Vanora who presented her sister with a pink flower. Pink is Chiara's favourite colour. Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech was present.

Talking to the press, Chiara who seemed lost for words said the festival had been an extraordinary experience, and thanked the Maltese for all their help.

When she was singing her number on Saturday, the audience applauded throughout. Asked about this, her face lit up, saying that helped her a lot.

"The applause started as soon as I came out on stage. The emotion was incredible."

Chiara noted that this time round, the experience was different from that in 1998 because people knew her better. "Experience teaches you a lot. In 1998, I barely knew what to say during interviews but now I can barely stop talking." Speaking about the Press Award, she noted: "The award bears a lot of significance because the press can make you or break you."

Chiara who left the airport waving a Maltese flag expressed the hope that she will have a chance to share her music not only with Europeans but also with the rest of the world.

Maltasong chairman Grace Borg thanked the Maltese for the way they voted adding that this had helped Malta a lot in the final vote.

Chiara's happiness at placing second was overshadowed by the fact that her father had to remain in a hospital in Kiev while she returned to Malta in the early hours of this morning.

"It's a bitter sweet situation," she said yesterday morning as she packed her bags and prepared to return to Malta to greet her fans and well-wishers.

On Thursday her father, Maurice Siracusa, was admitted to hospital suffering from complications to the digestive system. He is stable and in good care but missed out on the proud moment of seeing his daughter place second.

Chiara put on a brave face and attempted to focus on the positive side of things - placing second and walking off with the Press Award for best song.

"Placing second lays the foundation for new openings and the result is a clear signal that there is a market for ballads," she said.

Asked if she would continue focusing her musical career on ballads, Chiara replied that this genre of music was her direction, focus and inspiration.

Once again Chiara came extremely close to bringing the Eurovision crown to Malta. After placing third with The One That I Love in 1998 she had to settle for second place with Angel, as Greece's Helena Paparizou walked off with the coveted award for her aptly named song, My Number One.

"I am happy to have surpassed my personal record. But coming so close yet again is a bit hard to take in at first, even though I am delighted with the result," she said.

Many commented that she placed third the first time and second the second time round, so could it be a case of third time lucky? Would she ever contemplate competing in the contest for a third time?

"It's too soon to say. I can't say no outright. Maybe I will, but you never know how my life and career will develop," she said in a pensive voice.

The general comment was that Chiara gave a flawless performance and that she sang her ballad powerfully and effortlessly, looking confident and thrilled with just a microphone on stage.

Chiara's achievement is all the more rewarding because despite the fact that Malta got no points from eight countries and 12 points from Russia only, she placed second with 192 points, well ahead of Romania at the third spot with 158 points.

Giving a post-mortem of the result, Maltasong chairman Grace Borg said she was very pleased, especially considering the usual political voting between neighbouring countries.

"I think we can say that Malta achieved what it did on its own steam and certainly not because we have any neighbours supporting us," she said.

In the run-up to the big night, Cyprus and Malta had established a very good rapport, while Greece hung around the periphery. Was Maltasong disappointed that Malta garnered a mere six points from Cyprus and gave maximum points to Greece, while Malta gave its neighbour in the Mediterranean the full 12 points?

"It's obvious that Cyprus and Greece will always support one another and we never expected full points from Cyprus, though 10 points would have been nice," Ms Borg said.

Asked if anything could have been done differently, Ms Borg replied that the Maltasong board had done all it could.

"We did the best we could and I am personally satisfied. What could have been done I feel we did," she added. Labour MEP John Attard Montalto, accompanied by his wife and daughter, flew to Ukraine especially to wish Chiara good luck and cheer her on during the contest.

During Saturday night's show held at the Sports Palace, there was a great atmosphere and a camaraderie between competing countries, as they cheered and waved their flags enthusiastically, even when their country was not performing.

Despite fears that Ukraine would not deliver and fail to stage a show fit for the contest's 50th anniversary, the National TV Company of Ukraine (NTU), which organised the show, proved the scaremongers wrong.

Ukraine's capital Kiev became the heart of Europe during the past week and many of the city's main streets were closed off to traffic to allow a big celebration on the grand opening of the concert.