The International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) is a worldwide competition for talented high-school students where they test their chemistry knowledge and skills by solving difficult problems, both practical and theoretical.  
The first International Chemical Olympiad was held in Prague on June 18 – 21, 1968, with only three countries - Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland competing. The first Olympiad in a non-Socialist country took place in 1980 in Linz, Austria. The number of participating countries keeps growing and last year the IChO was attended by 296 competitors from 76 countries and all 5 continents. They were accompanied by an additional 233 people consisting of an international jury, spectators and guests.
The IChO 50th jubilee is symbolically being held in the Slovak and Czech Republics this year, in the spirit of the motto: “Returning to the place where it all began...”, which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the formation of Czechoslovakia. Comenius University in Bratislava and the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague are organizing the event together. The competition will be professionally prepared by experienced teams of authors under the auspices of national chemical companies – Slovak firms for the practical portion, and Czech enterprises for the theoretical part. Volunteers (a combination of former IChO participants and students from the universities) will provide social activities and accompany the participants. The administrative team will be led by Dr. Martin Putala (Slovakia) and Dr. Petr Holzhauser (Czech Republic).
Czechoslovakia, and independently Slovakia and the Czech Republic since 1993, have not missed a single year of the IChO. They are always among the most successful countries with their students regularly winning medals. In the past 10 years, with 10 teams of 4 participants in the competition, Slovakia has won 37 of 40 possible medals, including 2 golds.
Students qualify for the IChO based on their results from national Chemical Olympiads and selection training camps. The National Chemical Olympiad in Slovakia has been regularly organized by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport, with the Slovak Chemical Society at SAS being the professional guarantor of the competition. The International Information Centre of the International Chemistry Olympiad in Bratislava, headed by Dr. Anton Sirota, archives complete documentation of each year of the IChO, and documents all preparatory and competitive tasks. Chemistry knowledge and skills are tested practically – via laboratory experiments and theoretically – via written examinations.

Viktor Milata