Our students have done us proud again!
Malaysia’s entry into the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) took place since 2006 after fulfilling the condition of being observer for two consecutive years prior to this. Even though our Malaysian Team is still comparatively new, it has already won three bronze medals each year from 2004-2005! This year our participants collected some more medals, these aspiring potential chemistry students who have made Malaysia proud are Goh Jun Yan, Muhamad Azri Muhamad Marican, Lee Gah Hung and Aminatulmunirah Kasim. Their achievement shows that we can be gold and silver winners in the near future if we continue to strive for excellence!
The countries awarded gold medals in 2007 are China, Russia, Poland, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Germany, Lithuanic, India, Vietnam, Iran, Thailand, Canada, Hungary, Slovakia, France and Turkey. The most outstanding achievement of four gold medals each was clinched by some countries including China, Russia and Poland. Table 1 show the overall result for the countries taking part in this year’s Olympiad.
Table 1:
Overall Result of the International Chemistry Olympiad 2007
Medals |
No. Of Countries Obtaining At Least One Of The Respective Medals |
Gold |
16 |
Silver |
23 |
Bronze |
15 |
None |
12 |
Number of Countries Participating: 66
Number of Observer Countries: 2
Host of IChO
The Chemistry Olympiad is hosted by a different country each year in the month of July. This year’s Olympiad (39th) was held from 15th till 23rd July in Moscow, Russia. Next year it will be held in Budapest, Hungary. In 2009, the Olympiad will be held in Tokyo, Japan and subsequently in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The venues for the other years will be suggested by the interested hosting country 4 years before the competition would be held. All the Olympiad announcements and news are circulated in journals called Catalyzer distributed daily during the Olympiad for everyone’s information. The first issue of Catalyzer for next year’s Olympiad was distributed on the last day of IChO 2007 to provide early information for all participants to make preparation. Would Malaysia be interested to one day host the IChO? It would be great experience!
The Malaysia team
Our Malaysian Team for this 39th IChO was made up of 4 participating students and five accompanying adults as Head Mentor, Mentor, Scientific Observer and Guests. They are as follows:-
Participating Students:
1. Goh Jun Yan
2. Muhamad Azri Muhamad Marican
3. Lee Gah Hung
4. Aminahtulmunirah Kasim
Accompanying Adults:
Head Mentor |
Prof Dato’ Dr Mohd Jamil Maah (Universiti Malaya) |
Mentor |
Prof Dr Noorsaadah Abd. Rahman( Universiti Malaya ) |
Scientific Observer |
Pn Lee Mei Leng (Institut Kimia Malaysia) |
Guests |
Pn Noriah Mohd Shah (Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia) |
Pn Punia Turiman (MARA ) |
The competition.
The competition is based on the practical and theoretical examinations which has a time frame of 5 hours each. The practical examination was held on the 18th July and students had to carry out experiments for three questions. Before the examination, as a Scientific Observer, I joined our Head Mentor and Mentor to inspect the list of apparatus for our four candidates who were put in different levels of the building. The students were taken for a whole day excursion on 19th July, the next day after the practical examination. The theoretical examination was held on the 20th July, a day after the excursion and they had to solve 8 problems within 5 hours.
Our journey to Moscow.
At mid-night of 14 July 2007, our Malaysian team left for Moscow via a transit at Dubai. The flight to Dubai took us 6 hours; we were in transit at Dubai airport for 3 hours. Then we continued our journey for another 4 ½ hours from Dubai to Moscow. Malaysian time is four hours ahead of Moscow time. Summertime daylight is long in Moscow; nightfall is only experienced at about 11pm.
At Domodedovo International Airport, we arrived at the same time as a number of other participants from other countries and we were greeted by two young Olympiad Welcome Committee members. We had communication difficulties because these two members could hardly understand our English. Somehow, we later understood that we had to walk out to the two buses parked outside the terminal. The weather at that time was really hot and the traffic was all jammed up.
An hour later, the bus pulled up in front of a big and majestic building of the Chemistry Department of Moscow State University. Many had already arrived there for registration. The University is 250 years old and it has a huge campus with greeneries and statues of famous scientists and academicians everywhere. It took about 30 minutes to walk from one of the University gates to a nearby hilltop which overlooks the Moscow River and the Vorobjovi Gori berth where one can board the boat to cruise along the Moscow River which has beautiful sceneries along its banks.
The itinerary
During registration, we were given souvenirs like a colorful Periodic Table, an Olympiad logo badge, fridge magnet bearing the Olympiad logo, meeting bag, diary and a book on Chemical Education in Russia. The students had to hand over their mobile phones to the Secretariat so that they could not contact their mentors after the Reception. This was to avoid any communication between the two parties concerned because two sets of the Theoretical as well as the Practical questions would be distributed to the Head Mentor and Mentor to be discussed, translated and reviewed a day before the examinations. After the reception, the students were taken to the Hotel Olimpiets where they would be staying and have their meals there during the whole duration of the Olympiad. The other officials of the team were then whisked to a rather distant hotel called Holiday Inn Sokolniki and we followed a totally different programme from the students except for the Reunion party in boat while cruising the Moscow River and the grand Farewell Banquet held in the building of the Russian Academy Of Science. All kinds of Russian cuisines, fruits, desserts and drinks were served during the Farewell Banquet.
On the bright morning of 16th July, four buses ferried all the officials from the hotel to the University’s Chemistry Department. From there, all of us walked through the park to the venue for the Opening Ceremony, an open area in front of the University’s Library. The band played a few festive tunes and the ceremony started at 11.00am with the marching in of all the teams one after another. Each team appeared in their own Olympiad uniform waving their national flags. They marched to the centre stage area and then the team leader placed the flag pole in front of the centre stage before the team marched to their seats. It was such a colorful scene with all the 68 country’s flags flying gracefully in the air.
When everyone had settled down, the ceremony began with the welcoming remarks from the Emcees and when the traditional Russian bells music filled the air, several traditional breads served with salt were passed around for everyone to taste. This was followed by a number of welcoming speeches from the Committee, Heads of the University, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Researches, sponsors and finally by the President Of the 39th IChO, Professor V Lunin. They all stressed that Chemistry is one of the most important sciences in our modern world. It includes developing branches such as medicine, pharmacology, agriculture, high-tech technologies and discoveries of new materials. Chemistry is a ‘peaceful’ Science and all participants should bring back home the spirit of friendship and positive cooperation of the Olympiad.
After all the official speeches, there was a great and joyful show with loud orchestra music, traditional and modern dances and bright fireworks. The representative of the Russian commander Leonid Romashov then put his hand on the heart to take an oath of the Olympiad for every young Chemist. With the Olympiad fire set and the flag raised, the 10-day marathon was declared open. At the end of the ceremony, 500 rainbow balloons flew up into the sky.
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