A Reason for Pride: Bulgarian Students Triumph at International Olympiad in India

Bulgaria achieves its best-ever performance at the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics. Our national team won 3 gold medals, 1 silver medal, and 1 honourable mention. The competition took place in India from 11 to 21 August. The success of our high school students was achieved in competition with over 280 students from 63 countries.

Elena Yordanova, gold medalist, said: “When I found out I had won a gold medal and wasn’t among the silver medallists, I was initially shocked, then very happy. And then, when it was my turn to go on stage, that was truly the long-awaited moment.”

The preparation for the Olympiad was intense, but the students felt supported throughout.

Svetoslav Arabov, gold medalist, commented: “Before the competition, our coaches trained us very, very thoroughly. In my opinion, this greatly improved our results; without them, we wouldn’t have performed so well.”

Petar Popov, gold medalist, added: “They provided extremely strong preparation, which clearly which showed results.”

Stefan Ivanov, academic supervisor, explained: “We started online sessions back in May, in addition to in-person training. So it’s a long-term effort.”

He also noted: “The Olympiad is a question of technique, not just knowledge, and this year we focused more on technique – that is, knowing exactly what to do when faced with a sheet of daunting problems.”

The students also shared which round of the competition they found the most challenging.

Elena Yordanova said: “Personally, I find the theoretical round, where the actual problem-solving takes place, the most difficult. The theoretical round was extremely long; the problem statements were 19 pages, and we had to read, understand, and solve them in 5 hours.”

They also offered messages to future competitors.

Elena Yordanova: “Don’t get discouraged if you don’t achieve your expected goal.”