The Israeli physics team won two gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal on Sunday at the International Physics Olympiad for high school students, which took place in Bangkok, Thailand. The achievement ranks Israel 13th in the world, up four places from 2010.

Gal Dor from Ahad Ha’am High School in Petah Tikva and Asaf Rosen from Motta Gur High School in Modiin both won a gold medal.

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The silver medal recipients were Gur Peri from Rabin High School in Mazkeret Batya and Ben Feinstein from Rabin High School in Modiin, while Aviv Frenkel from Ort Yad Leibowitz High School in Netanya received a bronze medal.

Dr. Eli Raz, head of the project on behalf of the Education Ministry, attributed the success of the Israeli team due to its new training program. The program includes a series of boot camps and individual teaching for the course of a whole year.

"This is an exceptional class of brilliant and creative students," explained Raz.





The winners (R-L): Gur, Aviv, Ben, Gal, Asaf

Initially, some 2,500 students were accepted to the physics team, but after undergoing a meticulous screening only 350 students remained. The following stage included a series of experiments and problem solving at an Olympiad level, with only 35 students making the cut.

Throughout the yaer the chosen students were taken to physics boot camps on three different occasions, each one lasting for a couple of weeks.

"The training level at the camps was very high, and each day the students spent about 12 hours in the labs without even taking a break," said Raz. "The level of physics was so high that even those with a bachelor's degree in physics would have a hard time keeping up."

Gal Dor, only in the 11th grade, has already competed in six different sciences Olympiads, and is set to compete in the upcoming International Mathematical Olympiad in the Netherlands later this month.

"It was very exciting standing on the stage and receiving the medal," shared Dor. "We've worked really hard this past year preparing for the Olympiad and we had a goal – to bring honor to Israel and win."

Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar said: "I see their winning as something of great national importance and we intend to invest a lot of efforts and resources to improve our achievements in the future."