The participants of the XI International Geographic Olympiad returned to Moscow on 19 August. Four young geographers, representing Russia, won two silver and two bronze medals. Yegor Shevchuk from Petrozavodsk and Mikhail Maslyayev from Moscow got silver, Fedor Mityurёva of Lieven (Oryol oblast) and Stanislaus Adamaytisa from Moscow got bronze.
The Russian Geographical Society is among the organizers of the All-Russian Geography Olympiad and supports the preparation of our teams for participation in international competitions in the field.
For the first time in the history of the International Geographic Olympiad, held under the auspices of the International Geographical Union, all members of the Russian team performed very well and returned home with medals. It is also important that in the overall team placing, the Russian team was the fifth out of 36 teams. Singapore, Australia, Croatia and Romania are ahead.
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In the individual standing the best of the 144 participants of the competition on the basis of written assignments (accomplishing theoretical tasks), the test stages and the field exercise was the student from the United States James Mullen. The Russian participants took the 20th (Shevchuk), 21th (oil), 41st (Mityurёv) and 42nd (Adamaytis) places. Stanislav Adamaytis was the best in the test round, and Yegor Shevchuk had a very high score (10th place) in the written round.
The International Geographic Olympiad is held annually among the best actors in the national geography contests at the age of 16-19. The Olympiad consists of three parts: a written test, a multimedia test and a field tour.
The XI International Geographic Olympiad was held in Poland, in the old city of Krakow. Field tour was also organized in the city - participants studied the prospects of development of city parks. Polish organizers have prepared a rich program of excursions. The Olympiad participants visited different areas of Krakow, went down to the Wieliczka Salt Mine in the suburb, rafted on the Dunajec in Pieniny. One of the trips deserves special mention. The visit to the museum at Auschwitz, where during the World War II was the Auschwitz camp, where more than 1.5 million people were murdered.
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Closure of the XI International Geographic Olympiad coincided with the beginning of the Krakow conference of the International Geographical Union.
On August 18 at the opening of the forum in the main auditorium of Jagiellonian University 12 gold medals were awarded to the winners of intellectual competition.
The presentation of the next International Geographic Olympiad, hossted by Russia was made during the Krakow Oliympiad. Preparation for the Olympiad 2015, which will be held on August 11-17 in the Tver Region and in Moscow, has already begun. The Russian Geographical Society takes an active part in the organization of the future Olympiad.
Text: Alexey Naumov and Press service of the Russian Geographical Society
Photo: Dmitry Bogachev