Geography olympiads

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The All-Russian Geography Olympiad traces its history from the middle of the XX century, when the Faculty of Geography of M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University starter holding first Olympics for Moscow schoolchildren. Soon the Olympiad have been expanded, as the number of those wishing to take part in it grew every year- the students gathered at the Olympiad from all over the Soviet Union. Around the same period, Leningrad, Gorky and other major universities and cities began to hold their own olympiads.

The Olympiad movement developed successfully, and in 1991 in the Crimea (Kerch) the first (and unwittingly the last one) All-Union Olimpiad in geography was held. It was attended by students from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan was.

After the breakdown of the Soviet Union in 1992 Yaroslavl hosted the first All-Russian Geography Olympiad. Its tasks were composed by researchers of the Department of Geography of Moscow State University – A.I. Danshin, N.B. Denisov and A.S. Naumov. It has become an annual event ever since. At first there was only one tour - theoretical. A few years later a competition of experts of geography was added to the Olimpiad, later - practical (field) tour, and most recently - in 2010 - a third test round was added.

For 20 years Alex S. Naumov, Ph.D., assistant professor of social and economic geography of foreign countries has been organizing and holding the All-Russian Geography Olympiad. 

The geography of the Olympiad is very wide - it took place in many cities of Russia: Tambov, Ulyanovsk, Novgorod, Tver, Smolensk, Vladimir, Penza, Orel, Tuapse, Nizhny Novgorod, Lipetsk, Kaluga, Ryazan, Zheleznovodsk, Belgorod, Kislovodsk.

The Olympiad became the most widespread geographic event in Russia, it annually involves thousands of students from all regions of Russia. More than a hundred winners of the All-Russian Olimpiad on geography entered prestigious local universities, many had graduated with honors from them, and some even defended their dissertations.

Winners of the All-Russian Geography Olympiad take part in international geographic competitions: International Olympiad on geography and Geographic World Championships.