Male student enters Olympia final thanks to his sprints

Trong Thanh introduced in Korean, recited a poem composed in the weekly competition, the program Road to Olympia. Video : VTV3

Although being closely followed in all the rounds, Trong Thanh made impressive accelerations many times to get ahead, before winning the right to play in the final round of the 22nd Olympia.

Nguyen Trong Thanh, class 12 English 1, Tran Phu High School for the Gifted, Hai Phong , won overwhelmingly in the fourth quarter competition of the Road to Olympia program, winning the last ticket to the final round taking place on October 8.

"I put a lot of heart into this journey, so reaching the final competition is a great joy for me," said the student born in 2006.

Nguyen Trong Thanh at Tran Phu High School for the Gifted, September 2023. Photo: Provided by the character

Watching Road to Olympia with his family since he was a child, Trong Thanh was inspired by the victory of his senior Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh in the final match in 2011. To date, Ngoc Oanh is the only contestant from Hai Phong to win the championship of this competition. This was a big motivation for Thanh to register for Olympia.

Ms. Tran Thi Anh Thu, Thanh's mother, said that she did not put pressure or set specific goals for her son. The family supported Thanh by creating conditions for him to travel from Hai Phong to Hanoi to watch the matches. There were times when the program was recorded for several days, Thanh also stayed in Hanoi to watch the whole thing.

"Despite his passion for Olympia, Thanh still maintains good academic performance, so his family is very reassured and always supports him," said Ms. Thu.

Ms. Tran Nguyen Thuc Trang Anh, Trong Thanh's homeroom teacher since grade 10, commented that he is determined, tries hard, and is always proactive in improving himself. When she learned that her student was participating in Olympia, Ms. Trang Anh encouraged him to "try to reach the finals and bring the live television broadcast to Hai Phong for two consecutive years."

Trong Thanh believes that Olympia is a playground for knowledge, so there is no better preparation than reading textbooks carefully and watching newspapers and TV. At the same time, he connects with friends who share the same passion to practice. From the end of 10th grade until now, Thanh plays an average of one match a day. If he encounters questions that he cannot answer, he will write them down and spend time to learn them when he has free time.

"From a sentence I don't know, when I look it up, it will reveal many other problems. I learn a lot each time like that," Thanh said.

As an English major student, the student from Hai Phong found that he had strengths in language, history and social studies. Thanh often scored well on questions in this area, which once became a turning point, helping him reach the finals.

In the monthly competition, in the Finish Line round, contestant Quang Minh encountered a 30-point English question about the abbreviations of international organizations. At that time, Trong Thanh had 225 points, leading the race but the gap with the runner-up was only 5 points. Seeing Minh give the wrong answer, Thanh rang the bell, answered correctly and won another 30 points.

"This is the decisive question, helping me to rise up and create a safe gap in points with my chasing friend. Thanks to that, I am almost certain to win after this question," Thanh said.

But before reaching this emotional moment, Thanh had to go through some difficult moments. Also in the monthly competition, Thanh and Quang Minh answered the keyword "Overcoming Obstacles" when given only one clue. The Hai Phong male student guessed "nuclear", while his friend answered "radioactive". As a result, Minh won the point.

"At that time, I was extremely discouraged. I tried to calm down during the break and only felt really motivated when I answered the first question correctly in the Acceleration round, winning 20 points, then gained momentum and won two more questions for 40 points," Thanh recalled.

The special thing in the three weekly, monthly and quarterly matches is that Thanh finished first. According to the rules, the order of the contestants' finishing depends on the score after the previous Acceleration round. This is the final round, so the order of play will affect the tactics and calculation of the contestants' question package selection.

According to Thanh, the first competition put him under a lot of pressure. In the weekly competition, he answered 2/3 questions incorrectly and lost points to his opponent. Because he was down, Thanh did not perform as expected, and missed out on the laurel wreath. He entered the monthly competition as the runner-up with the highest score.

Thanh did better in the later Finish lines, answering 2-3 questions and not losing points.

In   In the fourth quarter exam, the male student impressively accelerated before the constant pursuit of his friend Dang Khoa. At the end of the Acceleration round, Thanh Dat got 180 points, Khoa 170 points. He was the one who finished at the finish line.   In the first round, Thanh won a full 70 points, bringing the total score to 250, Dang Khoa was also full of hope with 220 points. However, in the final contestant's round, Thanh won the right to answer two questions, achieving a total of 330 points and winning the laurel wreath.

As the contestant with the least time to prepare for the final, Thanh admitted that he had some difficulties. From now until the weekend, Thanh prioritizes reading newspapers and watching the news, not trying to cram knowledge from books but focusing on practicing his reflexes in answering questions.

Talking about the three finalists, Trong Thanh said he had known Viet Thanh (Soc Son High School, Hanoi) and Xuan Manh (Ham Rong High School, Thanh Hoa) since grade 10, and highly appreciated their knowledge and playing style. As for Minh Triet (Quoc Hoc Hue High School for the Gifted), Trong Thanh said that this is an unknown factor that can create a breakthrough.

Trong Thanh (laurel wreath team) and classmates after the fourth quarter competition. Photo: Character provided

According to Ms. Trang Anh, the passion and journey at Olympia have changed Thanh a lot. From a quiet, reserved student, Thanh has become more active and sociable. He can play and talk with all his friends in class, as well as get to know many friends in the Olympia competition community. Thanh is also the organizer, prepares the content of the questions and acts as MC for the Olympia simulation programs in class.

"Thanh is highly appreciated by both friends and teachers for his ability and understanding," said the teacher.

When coming to Olympia, the male student of Tran Phu High School said he did not set any specific goals. Thanh determined that this is a playground, so first of all it must be fun.

"Of course the happiest thing is winning, but if the result is not as expected, I always try to have the most complete and meaningful journey, without regrets," Thanh said.

The male student said that after Olympia ends, he will pursue the goal of conquering majors related to Big Data and Data Analysis at university level.

Vnexpress.net