The national team, all students at Seoul Science High School, on July 17 celebrate their second-place finish at the International Physics Olympiad held in Switzerland with four gold and one silver medals. From the left are juniors Lee Jihoo and Cho Youngin, senior Jeong Jeonghun, junior Lee Seunghyeon and senior Song Kyungmin. (Ministry of Science and ICT)
By Kim Hayeon
Korea has finished second at the International Physics Olympiad with four gold medals and one silver.
The Ministry of Science and ICT on July 18 said Team Korea and Romania tied for runner-up at the 52nd edition of the tournament, which was held online from July 10-17 in Switzerland.
All five team members earned medals.
The team was entirely from Seoul Science High School. Juniors Cho Youngin (ninth overall), Lee Jihoo (12th) and Lee Seunghyeon (13th) and senior Jeong Jeonghun (36th) all won golds.
Senior Song Kyungmin finished 75th to earn a silver.
With a perfect score being 50, the competition had five questions for each team — three on theory (30 points) and two on experiments (20). Five hours each were allotted to answer each section.
The questions on experiments were given in the manner of conducting and analyzing a simulation.
Among 76 countries that had a combined 336 competitors in the event, China finished on top with five gold medals.
Second came Korea and Romania, followed in order by the U.S., Vietnam, Taiwan, Germany and Egypt.
Korea won the tournament three stright years from 2019 through last year.
Intended to stimulate the development of physics, the competition debuted in 1967 in Warsaw, Poland, and is held in a different nation every July.
hayeounk8@korea.kr
