Singapore students shine in Paris with record medal haul at history Olympiad

SINGAPORE – Eight students from Singapore pitted their wits against more than 400 students from around the world in a worldwide history contest in Paris, and brought home a record medal haul.

The students, who came from a host of schools in Singapore, were competing in the International History Olympiad.

Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) student Luke Ng beat 134 students to emerge champion in the junior varsity division, winning 12 gold medals, four silver medals and four bronze medals for Singapore.

Speaking to The Straits Times after his return to Singapore, Luke, 17, said: “I am glad we were able to make Singapore proud through our victories.”

Luke and his ACS (I) schoolmate Christian See, 16, also clinched gold in a team event for Singapore at a history contest for junior varsity participants.

Singapore participants competed in four divisions – junior varsity for those in grades nine to 10, middle school for those in grades seven to eight, intermediate for those in grades five to six, and elementary school for those in grades two to four.

All in, a total of 432 participants formed 61 teams that came from 24 countries, three regions and 34 US states.

Unlike other Olympiads with formal selection processes, qualifying for the International History Olympiad entails performing well at smaller-scale history contests like regional championships and the Asian championships, said Luke.

“Finishing in the top half of all competitors allowed us to qualify for the International History Olympiad,” he added.

The sheer variety of topics that were tested, ranging from Middle Eastern history to classical music history, made it a challenge for the team, said Luke.

It required equipping themselves with knowledge in many different fields of history at once, he added.

For their efforts, the Singapore team was ranked second based on the number of golds won by each student in the delegation.

Participants, aged between eight and 18, came from across the world. The Olympiad, which is held every two years, took place from July 20 to July 26.

The Singapore team’s total tally of 27 individual medals consisted of 14 gold medals, five silvers and eight bronzes, placing it fifth out of 61 teams.

Funding came from the schools or students, who paid for themselves in most instances.

Luke said he and his teammates spent quite a lot of time in the lead-up to the competition doing research and familiarising themselves with topics through past questions.

They also tried to broaden their knowledge to cover as many potential topics as possible.

Some methods included “Wikirunning” – where participants read up on Wikipedia pages of historical figures and events before moving on to the Wikipedia page of a related subject, Luke said.

Historical documentaries and YouTube videos on topics like Japan’s ancient Ryukyu kingdom were also a means of preparation, he added.

“We also studied the American players’ performance through video coverage of US events, and tried to identify their strengths and weaknesses to allow us to perform better in the buzzer events,” Luke said.

Besides Luke and Christian, the others in the Singapore delegation were ACS (I) student Noah Tan, Ian Chang from Bukit Batok Secondary School, Emmanuel Chen from Dulwich College, Michael Yu from Hwa Chong Institution, Isaac Ho-Lin from Maris Stella High School and Nixon Hon from St Joseph’s Institution Junior.

Luke said he aims to study history and politics at Oxford University, and hopes to work in the civil service or pursue a career in academia.

“I am immensely grateful for the indispensable support of our parents and friends, who have also been there to encourage and assist us,” he added.