Shiva Oswal, a middle schooler from Cupertino, CA won 5 Golds, 4 Silvers, and 2 Bronze medals, including the title of Overall Middle School Olympiad Champion at the recently concluded 3rd International History Olympiad (IHO) held in Berlin, Germany from July 14-22, 2018.

The 2018 International History Olympiad (IHO) was attended by over 200 History students with more than 30 global affiliations. Oswal was part of Team California that was the 2018 Medal Table Champion securing an impressive overall count of 40 medals. Oswal contributed over 25% to Team Calfornia’s medal tally. Team India placed 2nd and Team Canada came in 3rd with 23 medals each.

“It’s always great to meet friends with similar interests and talents from around the world. I try to focus on the game and take calculated risks”, shared Oswal. In the end, this strategy paid off as Shiva won eleven medals.

The 2018 IHO closing ceremony was held at the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin, Germany. “It was great to see Shiva proudly hold the California flag on more than ten occasions”, said his dad, Vikas.

The International History Olympiad is a biennial, week-long celebration of history attended by some of the best young history students from around the world, featuring numerous individual and team based competitions.

23 Medal events were contested at the 2018 IHO.

  1. Team events comprised of the International History Bowl World Championship and the History Hexathlon tournament.
  2. Some examples of Individual buzzer-based events were the International History Bee World Championships, Ancient History Bee, Art History Bee, German Military History Bee, Historical Geography Bee, Recent History Bee, STEM History Bee, Scramble for Africa Bee and Women’s History Bee.
  3. Some examples of Individual non-buzzer based events were simulation of the Potsdam Conference, ‘Civilization’ computer game tournament, History of Berlin Exam and the History Knockout tournament.

The overall Individual Olympiad Championship at the Middle School, Junior Varsity and Varsity levels was determined on the basis of placement in the Battery Exam, Written Exam, and International History Bee World Championships. Each event counted one-third towards the Overall Olympiad Championship title.

For further questions regarding 2018 IHO, please email Mr David Madden at info@iacompetitions.com