Untold story about the male student who won the gold medal at the Asian Physics Olympiad

(Dan Tri) - Than The Cong - a physics student at Bac Giang High School for the Gifted - is the owner of the only gold medal of the Vietnamese team at this year's Asia-Pacific Physics Olympiad (APhO).

The results of the Asia-Pacific Physics Olympiad (APhO) were announced on the afternoon of June 9. All 8 members of the Vietnamese team won medals. Of which, the only gold medal belonged to male student Than The Cong from Bac Giang. Cong scored 27.6/30 in the theory test and 9.8/20 in the experimental test. With a total score of 37.4/50, Than The Cong ranked 30th out of 200 candidates worldwide participating in the exam. "When I knew the results, I was very happy to have achieved such a high result. At first, I did not think I would win a gold medal," Than The Cong shared. Last year, also at this playground, Cong won a bronze medal.

Than The Cong - gold medalist of the 2024 Asia-Pacific Physics Olympiad (Photo: NVCC).

Cong started to be interested and love physics since grade 8. The reason is very simple: in this subject, he could solve every problem. However, he failed the selection round for the physics team at the school level. A year later, thanks to hard work in advanced exercises, Cong achieved his goal of joining the team. After that, he continuously conquered the excellent student exams at all levels. With the second prize at the provincial level, Than The Cong was admitted directly to the physics class at Bac Giang High School for the Gifted. Here, he met a teacher who had a strong influence on him: Mr. Nguyen Van Doa. Mr. Doa was the person who directly guided Cong to review and take the APhO exam. In Cong's eyes, he "worked very hard". If there was a lesson he didn't understand in class, Cong would ask the teacher after class and each time the "tutoring" session lasted for hours. With the teacher's attention to both his studies and his daily life, Cong had more motivation to pursue his love for physics as well as conquer the exams.

Than The Cong (second from right) at APhO 2024 (Photo: NVCC).

While studying in the APhO team, Cong realized that the distinct strengths of his classmates in Hanoi were their English ability and their initiative in exchanging lessons with teachers and friends. Good English also helps them access a variety of rich sources of documents. Cong learned this from his friends, and at the same time, he worked hard to find scientific articles and university physics textbooks to expand and supplement his knowledge. This is also part of the reason why Cong scored very high on the theoretical exam. In this exam, there was a question about astrophysics that Cong really liked. The question was based on a research article published in the journal Nature, requiring candidates to use their knowledge of the orbit of a binary star system to explain the cause of the formation of the spectrum. Cong said that he had no regrets about this exam because he had tried his best. With the APhO 2024 gold medal, Than The Cong was admitted directly to university according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. Cong said he plans to apply to the Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering program at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Cong wants to pursue a career in electronics engineering and aims to study abroad. Throughout his physics studies and his future career plans, Cong has been encouraged and supported by his parents.

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/chuyen-chua-ke-ve-nam-sinh-gianh-huy-chuong-vang-olympic-vat-ly-chau-a-20240617095006471.htm