IPhO Minutes 2000

Minutes of the Meetings of the International Board during the XXXIII International Physics Olympiad in Nusa Dua (Bali, Indonesia) July 21 – 30, 2002

1. The following 66 countries were present at the 33^rd International Olympiad: (* - new participants):

Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, The Czechlands, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan(*), Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia(*), Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, The Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia(*), Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Suriname(*), Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Vietnam, Yugoslavia.

Three countries were represented by an observer:
Bahrain, Japan, South Africa.

It means that the 33^rd IPhO was the largest Olympiad in our history.

As New Zealand has not participated in three last Olympiads, the next organisers are not obliged to invite them to the competition (According to §2 of the Statutes these countries should be treated as “new” countries in the future).

2. Results of marking the papers by the organisers were presented.

The best score (45,40 points) was achieved by Ngoc Duong DANG from Vietnam (Absolute winner of the 33^rd IPhO). The following limits for awarding the medals and the honourable mention were established according to the Statutes:

Gold Medal		36 points
Silver Medal		32 points
Bronze Medal		24 points
Honourable Mention		16 points

According to the limits 42 Gold Medals, 37 Silver Medals, 58 Bronze Medals and 68 Honourable Mentions were awarded. The list of the scores of the winners and the students awarded with honourable mentions were distributed to all the delegations.

3. In addition to the regular prizes the following special prizes were awarded:

for the best score (Absolute winner)

Ngoc Duong DANG (Vietnam)

for the best score in the experimental part of the competition:

Ngoc Duong DANG (Vietnam)

for the best score in the theoretical part of the competition:

Mohammed FAGHFOOR-MAGHREBI (Iran)

for the best participant from the host country:

Agustinus Peter SAHANGGAMU (Indonesia)

for the best participant from the countries which joined the IPhO in 2002 (Prize of the President of the IPhOs):

Mirbek Mamatibraimovich SAMIEV (Kyrgyzstan)

4. This year the Bolivian team arrived to the competition without any delegation leaders (students only). The International Board came to the conclusion that such situation is not normal and cannot be repeated in the future. It means that in the future any team, not accompanied by adult delegation leaders, will not be allowed to compete and will be removed from the competition. Moreover, in the future the Secretariat of the IPhOs will notify appropriate Ministry of Education about the situation.

5. Dr. Cyril Isenberg formulated a proposal on cheating. His proposal, after preliminary consultations in the Advisory Committee, was disseminated to all the delegations more than three months prior to the competition. The International Board accepted (104 of 125 Members voted In favour) it in the following wording:

If it is found that leaders, observers or students from a country have been in collusion to cheat in one of the International Olympiad examinations, the students concerned should be disqualified from that Olympiad. In addition, the leaders, observers and students involved should not be allowed to return to any future Olympiad. Appropriate decisions are taken by the International Board.. This text should be added as Regulation to #7 to the Regulations .

6. Dr. Waldemar Gorzkowski informed the International Board about the Israeli proposal whose aim was establishing Friday, Saturday and Sunday as days free of any competition to satisfy certain religious requirements. The proposal was discussed in the Advisory Committee. As the Advisory Committee was strongly against it (12 Members against, 3 Members in favour), the Authors decided to cancel the proposal.
7. The International Board discussed the problem of voluntary/obligatory fee. Appropriate materials and simulations were presented by the Secretariat of the IPhOs. The International Board agreed that replacing the voluntary fee by the obligatory fee would result in many complications without any real profits.
8. The problem of two new regional physics Olympiads was discussed. It seems that the 1^st Baltic Physics Olympiad will be organized in Lithuania next year. All interested in it should contact Prof. Pavlas Bogdanovicius directly. Also it seems that the 1^st Balcan-Caucasian Physics Olympiad will be organized next year in Georgia. All interested in this event should contact Dr. Tengiz Bibilashvili directly.
9. President of the IPhOs presented a table with the future organizers of the IPhOs. At present the two nearest “free years” are: 2019 and 2020.
10. Dr. Hans Jordens and Dr. Yohanes Surya informed the International Board about the 1^st Congress of the World Federation of Physics Competitions (organized immediately after the 33^rd IPhO: Pacung, Indonesia, July 30^th - August 3^rd, 2002).
11. The International Board briefly discussed advantages and disadvantages of the new system of awarding Olympic Medals and Honourable Mentions, implemented this year for the first time. It seems that in opinion of the majority of the Members of the International Board the number of Gold Medals is too great compared to other Olympic trophies.
12. Dr. Waldemar Gorzkowski informed the International Board about a ridiculous requirement formulated in the letter from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to the organizers of the International Mathematics Olympiad. In the letter the IOC requires not to use the word “Olympiad”. The requirement of the IOC has been accepted as a kind of joke.
13. The International Board, acting on behalf of all the participants, expressed deep thanks to Dr. Triyanta, Dr. Alexader A. Iskandar, Dr. Satria Bijaksana, Prof. Dr. M. O. Tjia, Prof. Dr. H. L. The, Prof. Dr Andrianto Handojo and others for very good preparation and very good execution of the 33^rd International Physics Olympiad. Deep thanks were also conveyed to all the sponsors, in particular to the Ministry of National Education, the greatest sponsor of the 33^rd IPhO. One should underline that the 33^rd IPhO was the first IPhO opened by the
President of the organizing country: Her Excellency Madam Megawati Soekarnoputri. The 33^rd IPhO was also the first Olympiad that published a series of stamps memorizing the event.
14. Acting on behalf of the organisers of the next International Physics Olympiad Prof. Dr. Maw-Fa Chien (Taiwan) announced that the 34^th International Physics Olympiad will be organised in Taipei, on July 12^th - 21^st, 2003 and cordially invited all the participating countries to attend the competition. A brochure about the Olympiad in Taipei has been disseminated to all the delegations.

.........................................
Dr. Triyanta
Chairman of the 33^nd IPhO .........................................
Dr. Waldemar Gorzkowski
President of the IPhOs .........................................
Prof. Maija Ahtee
Secretary of the IPhOs

Nusa Dua, 29.07.2002