Gold and bronze medals for Bulgarian youth at Geography Olympiad in Indonesia

Bulgaria won two gold and two bronze medals at the International Geography Olympiad in Bandung, Indonesia. The Bulgarian young people competed in a competition with about 200 other participants from 46 countries. They went through a quiz, field work and a multimedia exam. With this success, Bulgaria ranks among the top 5 best countries in the world.

This is Bulgaria’s strongest performance in the recent 20 years at this Olympiad.

"At every moment, even when it was difficult, I found a reason to continue, because I know that I have already gone many steps before and it is definitely not the time to give up," said Mihail Paskalev, Mathematics High School "Petar Beron", Varna.

"For me personally it was my first year and I didn't know if I would make it, but I'm glad in the end that I succeeded," said Alexander Iliev, Paisii Hilendarski Secondary School, Sofia.

The trials were like for Olympians. And in combination with the strong competition, climbing the podium was even more challenging.

"These are over 40 countries, all super intensively prepared people who even study geography in English, i.e. they may have much more knowledge, they can cope with the material much easier," said Denis Urumov, 91 German Language School "Prof. Konstantin Galabov”, Sofia.

"USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Australia - not just to meet them, to beat them and it's an amazing experience for the kids," said Daniel Hristov, teacher at “Lyubomir Chakalov” National High School of Science and Mathematics.

"Fieldwork is always the most difficult, not because our preparation is weak, but rather because it is a very different test that tests in a very specific way the geographical skills and competences we need to develop," added Atanas Ivanov, “Lyubomir Chakalov” National High School of Science and Mathematics.

There is a popular film. There was footage from it and there was a question to do an analysis of the landscape in the designated scene, what type of soil they are, how they were formed. They did it flawlessly," said Assoc. Prof. Dimitar Zhelev, a lecturer at Sofia University "Kliment Ohridski".

For them, Indonesia will no longer be just a distant point on the globe, but the place where they won medals with their knowledge and made Bulgaria famous.