2nd place in iGeo!
Australian Team achieves second place at International Geography Olympiad
Australian Team achieves second place at International Geography Olympiad
Australia’s team of four geography students achieved an outstanding second place at the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo) held in Maynooth and Dublin, Ireland, from 19 to 24 August. In addition to their second place overall, the team achieved first place in the Fieldwork component of the Olympiad. The Olympiad is organised under the auspices of the International Geographical Union.
The Australian team members were selected through their exceptional performances in last year’s Australian Geography Competition and Geography’s Big Week Out, a five-day training/selection event held at Litchfield National Park, NT. The team members are:
All four students earned medals. Isla and Oliver achieved silver medals, while Drew and Sophie achieved gold medals, ranking 7th and 12th respectively from 183 students. Sophie was the only female student to win a gold medal.
Sophie Chang described her experience: “For me, the real highlight of this event was meeting so many like-minded students from around the globe. It was incredible to connect with many students who also shared a passion for Geography – the conversations were endless! Another memorable aspect of iGeo was the Cultural Night, where I was able to learn about the many different identities and life experiences each student held. Overall, it was so rewarding to learn so much from my fellow iGeo participants – both Geography and non-Geography related things!”
The International Geography Olympiad is an annual contest for the highest achieving 16 to 19-year-old geography students from around the world. Forty-six countries took part in this year’s competition, with the USA achieving the top team ranking, Australia achieving second place only one point behind them, and third was Indonesia.
The iGeo programme involves three academic challenges over the course of a week: a written response test, a multimedia test and a fieldwork exercise. The programme also includes a presentation from each team in which they showcase a geographic challenge faced by their country, and events where students share cultural traditions and practices.
John Tasker, Australian Team Leader, commented: “The iGeo is a prestigious and very rigorous international contest. We are so proud of our students. Two gold and two silver medals is the best individual medal result Australia has ever achieved. But more important than the results is the opportunity to foster greater intercultural understanding through the friendships developed between students, and leaders, from different countries.”
The selection of the team that will represent Australia at the 2025 iGeo in Bangkok, Thailand, will take place in September this year. Sixteen high-achieving Year 11 students from the 2024 Australian Geography Competition will take part in Geography’s Big Week Out, to be held in Canberra and Jindabyne, NSW.
Costs of participating in the International Geography Olympiad are met by the Australian Geography Competition with support from the Australian Government Department of Education, the University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience and Flinders University.
The Australian Geography Competition, with its associated events, is a joint initiative of the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland and the Australian Geography Teachers’ Association.
For more information about the Competition visit www.geographycompetition.org.au. To find out more about the International Geography Olympiads, visit www.geoolympiad.org.
For accompanying photos, or media inquiries please contact Rachel Honey, Australian Geography Competition Coordinator, at agccoordinator@rgsq.org.au