Fifteen students that made up Romania’s national teams competing in international Mathematics, Physics and Informatics Olympiads that won four gold medals, eight silver medals and three bronze medals in Kazakhstan, Thailand and India on Tuesday evening were presented prizes at the ArCuB headquarters in Bucharest as part of the 4th edition of “Meeting the Olympians’ under “Let Us Go to the Olympiad!” programme.
Under the programme, implemented by the eMAG Foundation and supported by the Banca Commerciala Romana (BCR- Romanian Commercial Bank), each gold medallist received RON 10,000, while each silver medallist got RON 8,000 and bronze medallists RON 6,000 each. The training teachers of the three teams also received prizes totalling RON 42,300.
Romania’s team at the International Informatics Olympiad in Kazakhstan won a gold medal thanks to Liviu Rebreanu National College of Bistrita alumnus Rares Buhai; two silver medals, thanks to Alexandru Velea, a Tiberiu Popoviciu Informatics High School of Cluj-Napoca alumnus, and Bucharest International Informatics High School alumnus Valentin Harsan, as well as a bronze medal thanks to 10th grader of the Mihai Kogalniceanu High School of Vaslui Andrei Popa. Training the national informatics team of Romania were professors Adrian Panaete and Marius Nicoli.
Rares Buhai, a gold medallist for the 4th consecutive time, was inducted into the competition’s Hall of Fame.
“The Hall of Fame is an informal all-time ranking of all contesters at this Olympiad. Having won four gold medals, I am second in the ranking. Above me is a competitor from Belarus who won six gold medals and one silver medal,” Buhai told Agerpres. He explained that the young student of Belarus won more medals because he competed more often, as the regulations in Belarus allowed him to start competing when he was a 6th grader.
Buhai said he will continue his formal education at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US and will later decide on the future steps in his professional career.
The Mathematics national team won six medals at the 56th edition of the International Mathematics Olympiad that took place at Chiang Mai in Thailand: one gold medal thanks to Bucharest International Informatics High School graduate Simona Diaconu; four silver medals thanks to Bucharest International Informatics High School alumnus Marius Bocanu and 10th grader at Bucharest International Informatics High School Ciprian Bonciocat; 11th grader of the Bucharest International Informatics High School Andrei Andronache as well as to Stefan Spataru, alumnus of the Bucharest International Informatics High School. A bronze medal went to 16-year-old Andrei Puiu, a 12th grader at the Vasile Alecsandri National College of Galati. Training and accompanying the team were Radu Gologan, Mihai Baluna and Catalin Gherghe.
The Physics team of Romania that competed in the International Physics Olympiad in Mumbai, India, came home with two gold medals – thanks to 11th grader of the Bucharest International Informatics High School Stefan Eniceicu and 12th grader of the same high school Tudor Cretu; two silver medals, thanks to Cristian Frunza, graduate of the Bucharest International Informatics High School alumnus, and 10th grader of the Bucharest International Informatics High School alumnus Razvan Radu. The tally was rounded up by a bronze medal that went to Ileana Rugina, graduate of the Bucharest International Informatics High School. The accompanying team of teachers was made up of Adrian Dafinei and Delia Davidescu, both tenured teachers at the Bucharest International Informatics High School, and university lecturer Sebastian Popescu of the Vasile Alecsandri Faculty of Physics of Iasi.
Attending the award ceremony on behalf of the Physics national team was just one member, Ileana Rugina, as the other members and training teachers were competing at the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad.