While Australia racks up the medals in Rio, another set of Olympians is doing the country proud this year: our competitors in the International Science Olympiads.
The Olympiads are a series of international science-based competitions for high school students held annually in various locations throughout the world.
Entry is restricted to the winners of each participating country’s national Olympiad, with a maximum of six students per science subject making it onto a national team.
With over 100 countries competing in 13 science-related fields, the championships are an elite event for the world’s smartest teenagers.
To qualify for an Olympiad is an incredible achievement in itself and to win a medal is a genius-level accomplishment. To win a medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad four years in a row would seem almost impossible; yet, that is exactly what Knox Grammar School Year 12 student Seyoon Ragavan managed this year.
Seyoon’s astonishing feat delivered him his third Bronze medal after winning Gold last year.
But no matter how many medals he’s won, achieving at the international level is still no walk in the park.
Seyoon told SBS that he studies for up to eight hours a day ahead of the competitions getting through hundreds of practice tests and shredding his nerves. “I was definitely very nervous,” he said. “I had to take a lot of time out just for myself in the immediate lead-up to the exams. This may be a competition but for those hours it’s just you versus the exam.”
Interestingly, maths was not always his forte. “When I was four or five, I was struggling with basic addition and subtraction,” he said. “My parents love to rub it in now.”
It took the thrill of competition to bring out his inner maths whiz, Seyoon told Fairfax Media last year. “A genuine passion for maths and the beauty behind it only started forming when I pushed my boundaries into the Olympiad field. That passion and love has built up into what it is today,” he said.
Another notable science prodigy is dual Olympian Zoe Thompson, a Year 12 student at Redlands. The school’s female captain won a Silver medal at this year’s International Biology Olympiad in Vietnam — after winning Gold at last year’s International Earth Sciences Olympiad in Brazil, where she was the only girl to place in the top 10.
Meanwhile, Redlands’ male captain Jeffrey Brown hopes to replicate Zoe’s success at the 2016 Earth Sciences Olympiad in Japan later this month.
Unsurprisingly, the school is very proud of its exceptional co-captains.
Redlands Principal, Dr Peter Lennox said the students’ achievements are “testament to their hard work and passion.”
Congratulating Zoe and Jeffrey on behalf of the entire school, Dr Lennox said: “The International Science Olympiads bring together the best and brightest from around the world, and we are so thrilled that two of the 27 incredible minds representing Australia this year have come from Redlands.”
The Australian Science Olympiads program is run by Australian Science Innovations and supported by the federal government in partnership with BHP Billiton and ANU.
For more information on the Olympiads and how to participate, see: https://www.asi.edu.au/programs/australian-science-olympiads/
Read more:
How I trained for the International Mathematics Olympiads: Aussie gold medallist – Alyshia Gates, SBS, July 22, 2015 http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/07/22/how-i-trained-international-mathematics-olympiads-aussie-gold-medallist
Sydney mathematics whiz Seyoon Ragavan scoops gold at International Olympiad – James Bullen, Sydney Morning Herald, July 20, 2015 http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-mathematics-whiz-seyoon-ragavan-scoops-gold-at-international-olympiad-20150720-gigbi5.html
Former IMO Olympians, Australian Mathematics Trust http://www.amt.edu.au/mathematics/australias-imo-results/former-imo-olympians/
Zoe is a dual Olympian, not in sport but in science – Tim Dodd, Australian Financial Review, June 20, 2016 http://www.afr.com/leadership/innovation/zoe-is-a-dual-olympian-not-in-sport-but-in-science-20160616-gpk77u
IBO 2016 Award Short List – International Biology Olympiad website http://ibo2016.org/Portals/0/IBO2016_award%20short%20list.pdf
Sydney schoolgirl rocks elite science comp – Andrew Leeson, Sydney Morning Herald, September 24, 2015 http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-schoolgirl-rocks-elite-science-comp-20150924-gjueav.html
Both Redlands School Captains Named on International Science Olympiad Teams – Redland School website, June 21, 2016 http://www.redlands.nsw.edu.au/blog/2016/06/21/redlands-school-captains-named-international-science-olympiad-teams/