Spending an hour before the quarter finals practicing ringing the bell, along with his determination during the competition, helped Trung Kien win a ticket to the Olympia finals, after two last-minute runner-up finishes.
In the first quarter competition of the 24th edition of the Road to Olympia program, broadcast on January 7, Tran Trung Kien, class 11A1, Le Hong Phong High School, Tay Hoa District, Phu Yen, won with a margin of 235 points. He will participate in the final round, scheduled to take place in October this year.
In the 24 years of the Olympia program, this is the first time Phu Yen has had a student enter the finals. The special thing about Kien's journey is that in the two weekly and monthly matches, he came in second and participated in the quarterly match because he was the contestant with the highest second-place score.
"The defeat in the weekly and monthly matches is a lesson for me to cherish the victory in the quarterly round. But I do not consider this achievement as the final victory, but will try to achieve the best result in the final match," Kien said.
Kien after winning the first quarter round of the Road to Olympia. Photo: Character provided
Kien said he joined the Olympia student community quite late. While many friends set their goals in middle school, Kien only had his first practice matches in 10th grade. On average, he played about 1-2 matches a week, increasing to three when he was close to the competition.
The Phu Yen male student was inspired by his senior Le Trung Hieu, a former student of Le Hong Phong High School, who participated in the first quarter of Olympia year 9 15 years ago. In addition, Kien was also supported and connected by some seniors to get acquainted and compete with students from many provinces and cities.
Kien's match recording schedule took place in mid-November. He traveled from Phu Yen to Hanoi with his father and some teachers. At that time, Kien did not set a far-reaching goal, "just hoping to pass the weekly round".
Kien’s first competition was full of surprises. He led by a wide margin for most of the contest, but his opponent overcame him in the final questions. Kien finished the match with 260 points, and had to wait for another match to see if he could advance to the monthly competition as the runner-up with the highest score.
"Waiting for half a day, I was both sad and worried, and blamed myself for not completing the match as expected. Only when I was informed that I would compete in the month did I calm down," Kien recalled.
For the Phu Yen male student, "even in his dreams" he would never have imagined that the scenario would be repeated in the monthly competition. Kien was still the one who answered the keyword Overcoming Obstacles correctly, leading most of the competition time, but missed the victory in the Finishing round. However, luck once again came to Kien, as he continued to advance to the next round with the highest second-place result.
Kien realized that his problem was indecisiveness and slow ringing the bell. The weekly, monthly, and quarterly recording schedules took place consecutively over three days, so Kien only had one night to stabilize his mind and overcome his weaknesses. Kien said he spent an hour in the evening before the quarterly competition practicing clicking the mouse, how to improve his speed to ring the bell, and gain the right to answer quickly. Along with that, he reminded himself to be calmer and more decisive.
Kien's change brought about results in the quarter finals. He played confidently in the Warm-up round to avoid losing many points and was decisive in the following rounds. Kien said that the Obstacle Course was the turning point of the match. With the "electronic" hint and a flipped image, Kien quickly pressed the bell and answered the keyword "VNEID" - the electronic identification application of the Ministry of Public Security.
The answer helped Kien gain 60 points, taking the lead and creating a gap with his teammates that he maintained until the end of the match. Kien said he did not have a specific strategy for this part of the game. The suggestive image helped Kien visualize VNEID because he had helped his relatives install it a few times, but overall, Kien thought he was only about 75% sure of the answer.
"If I wasn't decisive, I could have missed the chance to score points," Kien said, believing he was right to decide to ring the bell at that moment.
Kien in Hanoi to receive first prize in the Teen Story 2023 contest, May 2023. Photo: Character provided
In all three matches, Kien often scored high points from History and general knowledge questions. The student from Phu Yen said that he had a difficult time studying and memorizing History knowledge. Therefore, when preparing for the competition, Kien proactively read documents on this subject, found it more interesting and gradually loved it.
The male student also has strengths in natural sciences, especially Math, but has not been able to demonstrate them in the competition. Kien thinks that it may be due to the pressure of the stage and the short thinking time that he has not been able to fully develop his abilities.
Mr. Chau Van Toc, Kien's math teacher and homeroom teacher since grade 10, said that he was an excellent student with a series of achievements such as being the school's top student, always achieving the highest score in the grade, and also winning first prize in "Teen Stories" 2023 - a writing contest organized by the Institute of Educational Psychology. In grade 10, Kien took the excellent student exam and won third prize in math at the provincial level.
"Kien is a well-rounded, hard-working student with good self-study ability," said Mr. Toc, hoping that Kien can demonstrate his math ability in the Olympia final.
Kien is also the class monitor. Teacher Toc commented that he gets along well with his friends and is always willing to help others. Although not very tall, Kien has good physical strength and enthusiastically participates in group activities.
Kien (sitting, fourth from right) and his friends visited Mr. Toc on Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20, 2023. Photo: Provided by the character
With about 10 months until the finals, Kien said he would spend time reviewing his knowledge, English skills and improving his thinking speed. As the first batch of students to study the new high school program, Kien borrowed textbooks from the 2006 program to read. He believes that knowledge is never outdated, and the competition may ask related questions, so he wants to prepare as best as possible.
Kien said he wanted to learn the calm, cool playing style from his senior Nguyen Viet Thanh, the first quarter winner who participated in the final match of Olympia in the 23rd year. Staying calm on a high-pressure stage is what he aims for in every match.
In his free time, Kien still watches and plays football, occasionally rides a bike and plays badminton. He said he wants to balance studying, preparing for Olympia with recreational activities.
"The final match will be extremely stressful. I hope I can stay calm and confident to compete as well as possible," Kien shared.
Thanh Hang
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