REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesian students won two gold medals at the International Junior Science Olympiad 2014 in Mendoza, Argentina, on December 11.

"Thank God, the Indonesian team won two gold, three silver, and six bronze medals," the head of the sub-directorate of institutional and school students affairs of the Directorate General of Elementary Education, Supriano, said while awaiting the students' arrival at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport here on Saturday afternoon.

Indonesia sent two teams comprising six leaders, eight students, and two technical supporters to the event.

"This is unbelievable because last year, we did not win any gold medal. Our target was to win at least one gold medal this year," he remarked.

Participants of the event were all junior high school students selected from among the champions of the National Science Olympiad earlier.

"Of the 40 National Science Olympiad champions, 12 were chosen through further selection," Supriano stated.

The students were then trained for 69 days by coaches from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), and Universitas Indonesia (UI).

The International Science Olympiad includes a three-hour-long theory test, a three-hour-long multiple choice test, and a practice test in the three fields of physics, biology and chemistry that goes on for hours.

One of the gold medal winners, Dean Fanggohans, said he has had a passion for science since he was very young. He thought it was the mother of all kinds of knowledge.

Fanggohans was the champion of the National Science Olympiad in 2013 and 2014.

"The competition was not very difficult. The problems were not far from what coaches predicted," the ninth-grader from SMPK Kalam Kudus in Pekanbaru stated.

While in Argentina, Fanggohans noted that he did not have much difficulty adapting to the local conditions.

"The strongest rivals were from India," he pointed out.

Another gold medal winner was Michael Gilbert, while Andrew Wijaya, Pattrick Bryan Nugraha, and Elliyora Fiuolain Buyamin won silver medals.

The winners of bronze medals were Jonathan Aristya Septiadji, Salsabiila Roihana, Gian Cordana Sanjaya, Aria Purwasatya Salim, Ahmad Aufar Thoriq and Mutiara Auliya Firdausy. Olym Rifqi Amali did not win any medal.

Furthermore, the education ministry awarded Rp12.5 million in cash to each gold medal winner, Rp10 million to silver medalists, Rp7.5 million to bronze medalists, and Rp5 million to participants.

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