Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Extraordinarily talented Saudi boys and girls brought laurels to the Kingdom with their outstanding performance in the recently held three international Olympiads.

They bagged 14 prestigious prizes in the International Mathematical Olympiad, International Biology Olympiad and the International Physics Olympiad 2021, which were concluded in the online mode this week. The Kingdom’s celebration of these remarkable achievements coincides with the Eid Al-Adha celebrations.

With these global achievements, the total awards bagged by the Kingdom’s Mawhiba students in international competitions jumped to 449 awards, and these included 36 medals and 13 certificates of appreciation during the year 2021 alone.

The gifted Saudi students have won a silver medal, three bronze medals and two certificates of appreciation in the 62nd edition of the International Mathematics Olympiad 2021 (IMO), which took place remotely from July 18 to 24. They made pioneering achievements in IMO, with advancing 21 places in the overall ranking by jumping to 38th position among 107 countries, compared to 59th out of 105 countries in the competition last year. A total of 619 students representing 107 countries participated in this year’s Olympiad.

Saudi students’ six prizes marked an increase of 200 percent, compared to two bronze medals in the 2020 competition. This was for the 17th consecutive time, the Saudi team is taking part in this global competition with a total of 58 prizes, including 8 silver, 34 bronze, and 16 certificates of appreciation.

Marwan Khayat from the Makkah Education Department bagged the silver medal, and he is one of the students who have undergone Mawhiba programs for the last eight years, while Hamza Al-Sheikhi from the Makkah Education won the bronze medal. Ali Al-Ramadan from the Eastern Province Education and Hadi Al-Eithan from Al-Ahsa Education have also bagged bronze medals. Muhammad Al-Dubaisi and Moaz Al-Ghamdi from Eastern Education won certificates of appreciation.

The Saudi biology team has won three certificates of appreciation in the International Biology Olympiad (IBO Challenge 2021), which was held in Portugal remotely, during the period from July 18 to 23. The certificates were won by Basil Habibullah from the Department of Education in Makkah, Maryam Al-Hashem from Eastern Education, and Zainab Al-Alawi from Al-Ahsa Education, during the second Saudi participation in the Olympiad. The Saudi biology team received more than 3,000 hours of training at various levels in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, to compete for the Olympiad prizes.

In the International Physics Olympiad (IPO), Saudi students bagged five prizes. The winners of bronze medals are Hassan Al-Layl from Eastern Education, Al-Qasim Sangali from the Education of Makkah and Sadiq Al-Abbad from the Education of Riyadh. Ahmed Al Muhanna and Hussein Al-Shamasi from Eastern Education received certificates of appreciation.

It is noteworthy that the credit of winning these prestigious achievements goes mainly to the great initiatives taken by King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) to identify and nurture talented and gifted students in scientific fields.

Inspired by global expertise and steered by national and international experts, Mawhiba strives to establish a national system for giftedness and creativity in Saudi Arabia. Mawhiba’s sponsorship of over 54,000 students, of both genders, and its participation in international science competitions for talented youth, granted the Kingdom global recognition.