Korea won the overall title jointly at the International Biology Olympiad after all four members of its team won gold medals. Earlier, all five members of the Korea team won gold and shared the top spot at the International Physics Olympiad, setting a record of back-to-back wins for Korea in Olympiads where gifted students compete in science.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science & Creativity (KOSAC) said on the 21st that all four members of the Korea team won gold medals at the 37th International Biology Olympiad, held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on the 12th–19th. The Korea team was made up of students Kim Min-jae (Seoul Science High School, 3rd year), Bae Jun-su (Gyeonggi Science High School, 3rd year), Oh Ji-yun (Seoul Science High School, 2nd year), and Choi Jae-young (Korea Science Academy of KAIST, 2nd year).
China, Taiwan, and the United States also won four gold medals each and shared the title with Korea. The Olympiad announces only individual results and does not rank countries, but unofficially the number of medals is used to gauge the winner.
This year's Biology Olympiad drew 302 participants from 78 countries, the largest number of participating countries since Korea first took part in 1998. The competition consisted of theory and experimental evaluations, with each score weighted at 50% to calculate the total score.
Kim Jae-geun, Director General of the Korea team (professor, School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University), said, "Seeing students actively interact with representatives from other countries, I was convinced that the future of life sciences in Korea will advance to a world-class level."
At the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad, held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on the 10th–19th, all members of the Korea team also won medals. Students Kim Sang-yeon (Incheon Academy for the Gifted in Arts and Sciences, 3rd year) and Lim Jang-ho (Gwangju Science High School, 3rd year) won gold medals, student Kim Do-hoon (Gwangju Science High School, 3rd year) won silver, and student Lee Eun-seong (Daegu Science High School, 3rd year) won bronze. This year's event drew 368 participants from 92 countries. India, China, Vietnam, and Russia (competing as individuals) shared the title with four gold medals each.
At the International Physics Olympiad, held in Bucaramanga, Colombia, on the 4th–13th, students Kim Mu-yeon, Oh Ju-ha, Lee Kwon-heon, Lee Seung-jun, and Jeong Min-gwon (Seoul Science High School, 3rd year) won gold medals, sharing the top spot with China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Taiwan, and others. Student Oh Ju-ha also took first place overall individually.