VietNamNet Bridge – The “open encyclopedia” Wikipedia and the search engine Google both shown a result that Vietnamese student Tran Nhat Quang won the special prize for the best candidate from very far countries at the 1984 International Physics Olympiad. However, no one knows about this.

The father of Tran Nhat Quang, who was then a Vietnamese student attending the Olympiad held in Sweden, has posted an article on VTC News, asking to clarify if there was such a prize.

Those, who care about the achievements of Vietnamese students at international Olympiads, would find on Wikipedia the information about the prizes the students won. Wikipedia showed that a special prize titled “the best participants from very far countries” was awarded to Vietnamese Tran Nhat Quang at the 15th Physics Olympiad

The competition which took place 30 years ago, has once again stirred up the public when the information has been found. Meanwhile, in 1984, the Ministry of Education and Training informed that no Vietnamese participant got prize at the 15th International Physics Olympiad.

The father of Quang, who doubts about the accuracy of the information shown on Wikipedia, tried to learn more about the issue on Google, a search engine. And he has found one more proof. In 2010, a book reviewing the International Physics Olympiads so far was published, and it showed on page 89 that a Vietnamese student won the prize.

“Special prize

Alberto Clavijo Cuba Special prize for the best participants from very far countries

Tran Nhat Quang Vietnam Special prize for the best participants from very far countries

Vilhjálmur Thorsteinson Iceland Special prize for the best participants from the countries taking part in the competition for the first time

Lars Hoff Norway Special prize for the best participants from the countries taking part in the competition for the first time

Anna Puntajer Austria Special prize for the second best score by a female participant”.

Why didn’t anyone know about the prize if such a prize was awarded in reality? Ha Nam Ninh provincial authorities in the past (now Nam Dinh province) did not know about his, the Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted, where Quang went to, Quang himself and his family did not hear anything about this.

Quang’s father stressed that it was so enigmatic why the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training was not informed about this. The then Head of the Delegation of Vietnamese participants at the Olympiad, Prof Duong Trong Bai, and the Vietnamese Embassy in Sweden both also did not know about this.

Where is the prize mentioned on Wikipedia, then? The question is still awaiting the question from the Ministry of Education and Training.

Quang’s father has insisted that though 30 years have elapsed since the day, and there have been big changes in the personnel of the ministry, it still needs to take responsibility to track down the case to clarify the matter.

If it is true that the prize was awarded, the information needs to be exposed to the public, then the prize winner, student Tran Nhat Quang, his school Le Hong Phong and his homeland Vietnam need to take pride with the prize.

Vietnam needs to clarify the matter and show its proper behavior to the competition and to Sweden, the host country of the 15th Olympiad, when Vietnam did not receive the prize.

VTC