Sofia, July 11 (BTA/GNA) – Bulgarian high school students made a remarkable impression at the 34th International Biology Olympiad in the UAE, wining a full set of medals, the Natural Sciences Olympic Teams Association said.
The Bulgarians competed with 320 students from 80 countries.
Petar Zhotev (Year 12, Sofia High School of Mathematics) took gold for the third year in a row, Viktor Lilov (Year 11, Sofia High School of Mathematics) took silver and Viktoria Ivanova (Year 12, Pleven High School of Mathematics) took bronze. Yana Atanasova (Year 12, National High School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences) was a few points short of winning a medal.
The Bulgaria team is led by Prof. Albena Yordanova (Faculty of Medicine, University of Sofia), Assistant Professor Radoslav Alexandrov (Institute of Molecular Biology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) and doctoral student Teodor Trifonov (Institute of Biodiversity, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences).
The individual competition was held on July 5-7. The participants were given four practical problems in bioinformatics, molecular biology, biochemistry and ecology, and over 400 theoretical problems.
Petar Zhotev became the only biologist in the world to have won three gold medals at the International Biology Olympiad. Participation in it is limited to two times; however, the online Olympiad during the COVID pandemic did not qualify as an in-person event.
The International Biology Olympiad is the premier high school biology student competition worldwide. Bulgaria was one of its six founders in 1989 and participated in its first edition in Czechoslovakia in 1990.
BTA/GNA