On Monday 11 September, together with the university management, CZU Rector prof. Jiří Balík accepted successful young biologists who had represented the Czech Republic in July at the 28th International Biology Olympiad in Coventry, UK.
A total of 245 competitors from 64 countries participated in this year’s Olympiad. In this very strong competition, four young biologists - Vojtěch Brož (Grammar School Budějovická, Prague 4), Lukáš Fiedler (Grammar School Jírovcova, Č. Budějovice), Kateřina Kubíková (Grammar School Botičská, Prague 2) and Klára Pekařová (Jiří Wolker Grammar School, Prostějov) achieved extraordinary success. After almost 20 years, a team of young biologists from Czech Republic won the gold medal, to which they also added 2 silver medals and one bronze medal. The gold medal was won by Kateřina Kubíková, who came in fifth and was the most successful European this year. Only representatives from China, the United States and Singapore finished higher. This year, the Czech Republic was the most successful European team overall.
At a friendly meeting, Prof. Jiří Balík praised the performance of students by awarding them Goddess of the Harvest OPS prize. The young biologists then walked through the campus and some of our university’s workplaces.
Together with the Chemistry Olympiad, the Biology Olympiad is the oldest subject competition in the Czech Republic, which is announced annually by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports together with other competitions. This year was its 51st year. Since 2009, the Czech University of Life Sciences has been the guarantor of this subject competition on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, and for this purpose, the Rector's Office has been set up at the University - the Secretariat of the Biology Olympiad.