11th grade boy wins international Olympic gold medal and special message from mother

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With only 18 minutes left until the end of the competition, Ms. Huyen could not help but send Bach a message, even though she knew he would not read it. But the mother hoped that the sympathetic bond would bring about a miracle.
Hoang Xuan Bach (11th grade student, High School for Gifted Students of Natural Sciences, University of Natural Sciences - Vietnam National University, Hanoi) has just brought home the Gold Medal at the 2024 International Olympiad in Informatics.

Unexpected turn

Hoang Xuan Bach is one of two Vietnamese students who won a Gold Medal at this year’s International Olympiad in Informatics, the other being Pham Cong Minh (grade 12 at the same school). This year, all four members of the Vietnamese team competing in the International Olympiad in Informatics are students from the High School for Gifted Students in Natural Sciences – Vietnam National University, Hanoi and all won medals.

Bach's Gold Medal helped the Vietnamese team enter the group of 4 countries with the highest results in the medal tally, after the US, Japan and Poland. Xuan Bach shared that he was very happy to achieve the expected results.

Hoang Xuan Bach (11th grade student of High School for Gifted Students in Natural Sciences, University of Natural Sciences - Vietnam National University, Hanoi) won the Gold Medal at the 2024 International Olympiad in Informatics.

Ms. Le Thi Thu Huyen, Bach's mother, said that she was very satisfied with the results her son achieved but not too surprised. Having accompanied her son since he was young, Ms. Huyen believes that this is a worthy achievement throughout the process. What makes her happiest and most proud is that her son has shown a strong will and high determination.

On the first day of the competition, Bach temporarily ranked 46/353 contestants, even near the lowest position among the members of the Vietnamese team, while to win the Gold Medal, he needed to be in the top 30 finalists. “Knowing that my son felt pressured, I texted him to encourage him that there was still a second day of competition to ‘fight’, ‘nothing is impossible’ and to take advantage of every minute if there was still a chance. I am sure he can do it!”, Ms. Huyen said.

Bach turned things around when he returned to the top 30 and he held on to 29th place until the end of the competition. With only 18 minutes left, Huyen couldn’t help but send Bach a message even though she knew he wouldn’t read it. But the mother hoped that the bond between mother and son would bring about a miracle. “My son, keep trying! I believe you will win,” Huyen texted.

Ms. Huyen said, Bach came to Informatics by chance, and his starting point was "Math".

Bach showed his mathematical ability from a young age and won many awards in competitions. In grade 4, Bach won second prize in the national English Math ViOlympic. In grade 5, he won a Silver Medal at the International Mathematics and Science Competition (IMSO) held in China. In grade 6, Bach won a Gold Medal at the Asia-Pacific Mathematical Olympiad (APMOPS) in Singapore in 2019. In the same year, Bach won a Gold Medal at the 16th International Mathematics and Science Competition...

According to Ms. Huyen, her son's change to Information Technology was unexpected, and could even be considered quite late.

“The end of my child’s 7th grade year was right in the year of the Covid-19 pandemic. At that time, having to stay at home, my child was very sad. Seeing that, I suggested that my child try studying Computer Science and from there, he started to approach Computer Science,” Ms. Huyen said.

Bach started to study by himself and search for documents and textbooks on Informatics. “After a while, he told me that he really liked and wanted to pursue Informatics because he clearly felt the creativity. He said he was more attracted to it than reviewing and doing the same math problems over and over again,” said Ms. Huyen.

Seeing her son's determination, Ms. Huyen supported him. In 8th grade, Bach entered the excellent student team in the IT subject of Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted (middle school) after only 5 months of self-study and a "basic" course in IT.

In the city-level IT competition that year, despite being in 8th grade, Bach won second prize. That same year, Bach participated in the national IT competition for young students and won first prize.

In grade 9, Bach showed that his math ability had not declined when he was still selected for the city-level math competition and also won second prize.

In grade 11, Bach won first prize in the national competition for excellent students in Information Technology with the highest score nationwide. Also in this school year, Bach continued to win the Silver Medal at the 2024 Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad.

Hoang Xuan Bach took a souvenir photo in Egypt after competing in the 2024 International Olympiad in Informatics.

Bach shared that his secret is simply being diligent and proactive in studying. There are days when the male student writes code and programs for up to 14 hours.

Ms. Huyen also believes that to achieve today's results, ability is only a part, but more importantly and decisively, is the child's efforts in studying and practicing.

“There were times when my child participated in online competitions for up to 5 hours every night organized by international IT forums. Many days, he was so absorbed in studying that he stayed up until 1-2am. There were even times when I had to stress and ask him to go to bed early.

Learning Computer Science requires a high level of initiative, because sitting at the computer, whether the child is learning or not, sometimes parents cannot know. But for Bach, when he starts studying and practicing Computer Science, he is drawn away, completely detached from everything around him such as phones, social networks, etc. He once said that there were times when he lowered his head to read the questions, did an exercise, and when he looked up, 3 hours had passed," Ms. Huyen said.

Keep your feet on the ground

Bach said that his results today are thanks to the encouragement from the school, teachers and family. Huyen and her husband never put pressure or set a goal that their child must win a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal in the competition... "The boundary between winning a Gold or Silver medal is sometimes very fragile because it depends on many factors. My point of view when my child participated in all the competitions up to now is that as long as he tries his best, no matter what the result is, it is worth noting and encouraging," said Huyen.

After each exam, she always discusses with her child what she has done and what she has not done so that she can do better next time. “I aim to accompany and share, not to have too many expectations to create pressure or disappoint my child,” the mother said.

Ms. Huyen always tells her children, even after this exam, to "keep their feet on the ground" and not lose their goal.

Bach with his sister and parents.

Every day, Bach still does housework and participates in many sports activities, especially swimming. Last year, this 1m80 tall male student overcame the challenge of the Ly Son sea swimming competition, from Big Island to Small Island with a distance of 5km. That time, Bach was one of the few people who successfully crossed the Ly Son sea to reach the finish line.

Bach has been a member of the swimming club for 6-7 years and maintains free swimming lessons for visually impaired children during the summer. This year, despite the intense preparation for the international Olympic team, Bach still goes to the swimming pool every day at 5:30 a.m. to teach the children in the club. “I think this helps my child relieve stress from studying. Good physical strength and fitness contribute to supporting and helping my child focus on studying and develop intellectually,” said Ms. Huyen.

Bach said that in the coming time, he will continue to focus on studying to complete the high school program. Besides, he will equip himself with knowledge, skills, and study for additional certificates to prepare for studying abroad. In the future, Bach wants to pursue fields related to information technology and computer science.

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nam-sinh-lop-11-gianh-hcv-olympic-quoc-te-danh-14-tieng-viet-code-moi-ngay-2319744.html