This was Russia 's best showing at Eurovision up to that time . He beat Alsou , who also came 2nd in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 , but by only 155 points . Since the introduction of the semi-final in 2004 , more countries are participating and voting in the contest , thus increasing the possible amount of scores a song can receive : in 2006 , there were 38 nations taking part ( Serbia-Montenegro pulled out of performing , but still voted ) , as opposed to 24 in 2000 . Nevertheless , Alsou received 53.8 % of the maximum possible points from 24 countries in 2000 , whilst Dima 's final tally equated to 54.4 % of the maximum possible score available from the 38 voting countries
Eurovision Song Contest 2000
Eurovision Song Contest 2000
Never Let You Go (Dima Bilan song)