The International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) is an annual academic competition for high school students. It is one of the International Science Olympiads. The first IChO was held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1968. The event has been held every year since then, with the exception of 1971. The delegations that attended the first events were mostly countries of the former Eastern bloc and it was not until 1980, the 12th annual International Chemistry Olympiad, that the event was held outside of the bloc in Austria.
thumb|[[File:Gold1980rem.jpg|thumb]]
Up to 4 students for each national team compete around July in both a theoretical and an experimental sections, with about half of the participants being awarded medals.
About
The International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) is an annual competition for the world’s most talented chemistry students at the secondary school level. Nations around the world send a team of four students who are tested on their chemistry knowledge and skills in a five-hour laboratory practical exam and a five-hour written theoretical examination that are held on separate days with the practical examination usually being before the theoretical examination. Countries who wish to participate in the IChO must send observers to two consecutive Olympiads before their students can participate in the event. Presently, around 80 countries participate in the International Chemistry Olympiad.
All participants are ranked based on their individual scores and no official team scores are given. Gold medals are awarded to the top 12% of students, silver medals are awarded to the next 22% of students, and bronze medals are awarded to the next 32% of students. Honorable mentions are awarded to the top 10% of non medalist participants. One special award is given to the student that achieves the highest score overall. Two separate special awards are given to the students who get the best score in the theoretical and practical examinations. Preparation for the International Chemistry Olympiad demands a high level of understanding and interest in chemistry and an outstanding ability to relate chemical subjects with one another as well as with the practical world.
Structure and rules
thumb|An International Chemistry Olympiad medal for 29th IChO, held at [[Montreal, Canada]]
Each delegation consists of up to four students and two mentors (one of them is designated as the head of the delegation or "head mentor"). A delegation may also include a handful of guests and scientific observers. Students must be under the age of 20 and must not be enrolled as regular students in any post-secondary education institution. The International Information Center of the International Chemistry Olympiad is based in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Countries who wish to participate in the IChO must send observers to two consecutive olympiads before their students can participate in the event.
The first International Chemistry Olympiad took place in Prague between 18 and 21 June 1968. Each of the three participating countries sent a team of six students, and four theoretical tasks were to be solved. Guidelines for the next competitions were already suggested. The second chemistry Olympiad took place in 1969 in Poland, and Bulgaria also participated, with USSR and GDR only sending observers. Each team consisted of five pupils, and an experimental competition was added. The decision was made to invite more socialist countries to future competitions and to limit the number of pupils to four. The third Olympiad in 1970 was organized in Hungary with the GDR, Romania and the Soviet Union as new countries. In this competition, more than three prizes were distributed for the first time. With the fall of the Iron Curtain and the break-up of the Soviet Union into independent states in the early 1990s, the number of participants increased again. In addition, the increasing interest of Asian and Latin American countries became apparent with the numbers of participants. Altogether 47 delegations participated in 1998. Presently, 88 countries are invited to the International Chemistry Olympiads. || 39 || Estonia, Turkey, Ukraine
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| 27 || 1995 || Beijing ||align=left| || July 13–20|| || 42 ||
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| 28 || 1996 || Moscow ||align=left| || July 14–23|| || 45 || Belarus
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| 29 || 1997 || Montreal ||align=left| || July 13–22|| || 47 ||
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| 30 || 1998 || Melbourne ||align=left| || July 5–14|| || 47 ||
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| 31 || 1999 || Bangkok ||align=left| || July 4–11|| || 52 || India
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| 32 || 2000 || Copenhagen ||align=left| || July 2–11|| || 53 ||
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| 33 || 2001 || Mumbai ||align=left| || July 6–15 || || 54 ||
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| 34 || 2002 || Groningen ||align=left| || July 5–14|| || 57 ||
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| 35 || 2003 || Athens ||align=left| || July 5–14 || || 60 ||
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| 36 || 2004 || Kiel ||align=left| || July 18–27 || || 61 ||
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| 37 || 2005 || Taipei ||align=left| || July 16–25 || || 59 ||
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| 38 || 2006 || Gyeongsan ||align=left| || July 1–11 || || 66 || Saudi Arabia, Israel
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| 39 || 2007 || Moscow ||align=left| || July 15–24 || || 68 || ||
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| 41 || 2009 || Cambridge ||align=left| || July 18–27 || || ||
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| 42 || 2010 || Tokyo ||align=left| || July 19–28 || || ||
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| 43 || 2011 || Ankara ||align=left| || July 9–18 || || ||
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| 44 || 2012 || Washington, D.C. ||align=left| || July 21–30 || || ||
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| 45 || 2013 || Moscow ||align=left| || July 15–24 || || 74 ||
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| 46 || 2014 || Hanoi ||align=left| || July 20–29 || || ||
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| 47 || 2015 || Baku ||align=left| || July 20–29 || || ||
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| 48 || 2016 || Tbilisi||align=left| || July 23 – August 1 || || ||
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| 49 || 2017 || Nakhon Pathom ||align=left| || July 6–15 || || 76 ||
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| 50 || 2018 || Bratislava <br /> Prague ||align=left| <br /> || July 19–29 || ||76 ||
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| 51 || 2019 || Paris ||align=left| || July 21–30 || ||80
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| 52 || 2020 || Istanbul (online) ||align=left| || July 23–30 || || 60 ||
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| 53 || 2021 || Osaka (online) ||align=left| || July 24 – August 2 || || 79 ||
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| 54 || 2022 || Tianjin (online) ||align=left| || July 10–18 || || 84 ||
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| 55 || 2023 || Zürich ||align=left| || July 16–25 || || 89 ||
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| 56 || 2024 || Riyadh ||align="left"| || July 21–30 || || 84 ||
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| 57 || 2025 || Dubai || align=left | || July 5–14 || || ||
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| 58 || 2026 || Tashkent ||align=left| || July 10–19 || || ||
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| 59 || 2027 || ||align=left| || ||
Distribution of medals
The current list of countries with the best results for last decade by Golds are as follows as of July 2025
(Consolidated from following sources: ):
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Rank !! Country !! Gold in Last 10 contests (2016-2025)
|-
| align=center| 1 ||align=left| || 37 (4+3+4+3+3+4+4+4+4+4)
|-
| align=center| 2 ||align=left| || 29 (2+3+1+2+4+3+4+3+3+4)
|-
| align=center| 3 ||align=left| || 28 (1+4+4+3+4+2+1+2+3+4)
|-
| align="center" | 4 || align="left" | || 27 (3+4+1+2+2+3+4+3+2+3)
|-
| align="center" | 5 || align="left" | || 21 (2+2+2+2+3+2+2+4+1+1)
|-
| align="center" | 6 || align="left" | || 20 (3+2+3+4+2+1+2+1+1+1)
|-
| align="center" | 7 || align="left" | || 16 (3+2+2+4+1+4+x+x+x+x)
|-
| align=center| 8 ||align=left| || 15 (2+3+0+1+1+2+2+3+1+0)
|-
| align="center" | 9 || align="left" | || 14 (1+1+1+2+0+0+4+2+2+1)
|-
| align="center" | 10 || align="left" | || 13 (2+1+2+2+x+2+0+1+1+2)
|-
| align="center" | 10 || align="left" | || 13 (3+2+0+1+x+3+2+1+0+1)
|-
| align="center" | 12 || align="left" | || 9 (0+0+3+1+1+1+1+0+1+1)
|-
| align=center| 12 || align="left" | || 9 (0+0+3+1+1+2+0+1+0+1)
|-
| align="center" | 14 || align="left" | || 8 (0+1+1+1+0+0+1+2+1+1)
|-
| align=center| 14 || align="left" | || 8 (2+2+1+1+0+0+0+1+0+1)
|-
| align="center" | 14 || align="left" | || 8 (x+1+1+0+2+2+1+1+0+0)
|-
| align="center" | 17 || align="left" | || 7 (0+1+0+0+0+0+1+1+2+2)
|-
| align="center" | 18 || align="left" | || 6 (1+0+0+0+0+0+1+1+2+1)
|-
| align="center" | 18 || align="left" | || 6 (0+0+0+0+0+1+0+2+1+2)
|-
| align="center" | 20 || align="left" | || 5 (0+0+0+0+1+1+1+0+x+2)
|-
| align="center" | 21 || align="left" | || 4 (0+0+1+1+x+0+0+0+0+2)
|-
| align="center" | 22 || align="left" | || 3(0+0+2+0+0+0+0+0+1+0)
|-
| align="center" | 22 || align="left" | || 3 (0+0+0+2+0+0+0+0+1+0)
|-
| align="center" | 24 || align="left" | || 2 (0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+1)
|-
| align="center" | 24 || align="left" | || 2 (0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1+0+1)
|-
| align="center" | 24 || align="left" | || 2(0+0+1+0+0+0+0+1+0+0)
|-
| align="center" | 24 || align="left" | || 2 (0+1+1+0+0+0+0+0+0+0)
|-
| align="center" | 24 || align="left" | || 2 (0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0+1+0)
|-
| align="center" |29
| align="left" ||1 (1+0+0+0+x+0+x+x+x+x)
|-
| align="center" | 29 || align="left" | || 1(0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1+0+0)
|-
| align="center" | 29 || align="left" | || 1 (0+0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0)
|-
| align="center" | 29 || align="left" | || 1 (0+0+0+1+x+x+0+0+0+0)
|-
| align="center" |29
| align="left" |
|1 (x+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1+0)
|-
| align="center" | 29 || align="left" | || 1 (0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0)
|-
| align="center" |29
| align="left" |
|1 (x+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1+0)
|-
| align="center" | 29 || align="left" | || 1 (0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0+0)
|-
| align="center" | 29 || align="left" | || 1 (0+0+0+1+x+x+x+0+0+0)
|-
| align="center" | 29 || align="left" | || 1 (0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0)
|-
| align="center" | 29 || align="left" | || 1 (0+1+0+0+x+x+0+0+0+0)
|-
| align="center" |29
| align="left" |
|1 (0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1+0)
|-
| align="center" | 29 || align="left" | || 1 (0+0+0+0+x+0+1+0+0)
|-
|}
0 denotes participated and yet did not get any gold, whilst x denotes the country did not participate at that year
See also
- Asian Physics Olympiad
- International Physics Olympiad
- International Astronomy Olympiad
- International Biology Olympiad
- List of chemistry awards
- Tuymaada
Notes
References
External links
- The official site of the IChO Steering Committee with uptodate rules and data
- Official site of the International Chemistry Olympiad International Information Center
- A short review on the development of the International Chemistry Olympiads
- A database of all past IChO participants
Preparatory problems, final results, and the theoretical and practical examinations from particular competition can be found on the respective IChO's website.