International Biology Olympiad

File:The logo of the International Biology Olympiad.png

Logo of the International Biology Olympiad

The International Biology Olympiad (IBO) is a biological olympiad for pre-university students under the age 20, and is one of the most well-known International Science Olympiads. The first IBO was held in Czechoslovakia in 1990, and it has since been held annually. The competition has gradually expanded to include more than 75 participating countries across five continents. All participating countries send the four winners of their National Biology Olympiad to the IBO, usually accompanied by two adults who are members of the international jury, for the duration of the competition.

To select these top four life science contestants for this international competition, all member countries host Biology Olympiad competitions in typically 3-5 consecutively more difficult national competition rounds. As a consequence, this leads to a trickle-down effect, engaging more than 1 million students worldwide in life science each year.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the IBO (host: Japan) was organized virtually and was rated "a great success" and "highly successful" in the history of IBO because of its exceptional way of operation and the unique international group-based scientific project International Group Project 2020.

In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Portuguese IBO host to go virtual once again: the 2021 IBO was replaced by the IBO Challenge II, from July 18 to July 23.

IBO 2020 and the International Group Project

In the face of the threat of the International Science Olympiads' cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic (the International Physics Olympiad was officially canceled), the IBO 2020 was the first in the International Science Olympiads that was claimed by the host (Japan) to be held entirely virtually with a guaranteed supervision to adapt to the pandemic.

Notably, in the IBO 2020, the International Group Project was proposed. This is the first international group-based scientific project in the history of International Science Olympiads, aiming to intensify scientific discussion and collaboration among competitors from various countries.

In the International Group Project 2020, there are 50 research teams, and every team consists of 4 to 7 competitors, all representing different countries. In each team, these young biologists collaborated with their international fellows in a three-month scientific project. Finally, they had to propose a professional poster or presentation about an outstanding, innovative idea that can determine biology's future and solve a critical global issue. Every performance was evaluated by noble professors of Japan in life science.

Altogether, 53 countries and 202 contestants participated in the International Group Project 2020. This project was described as "the first trial of a collaborative research opportunity in IBO's history." Among 50 teams, six outstanding teams had (25 students) received the Award of Excellence for the best performance.

Summary

Each year, the IBO is organised by a different country.

No.	Year	City	Country	Date	Participating countries
1	1990	Olomouc		July 1–7	6
2	1991	Makhachkala		July 1–7	9
3	1992	Poprad		July 6–12	12
4	1993	Utrecht		July 4–11	15
5	1994	Varna		July 3–10	18
6	1995	Bangkok		July 2–9	22
7	1996	Artek		June 30–July 7	23
8	1997	Ashgabat		July 13–20	28
9	1998	Kiel		July 19–26	33
10	1999	Uppsala		July 4–11	36
11	2000	Antalya		July 9–16	38
12	2001	Brussels		July 8–15	38
13	2002	Jurmala and Riga		July 7–14	40
14	2003	Minsk		July 8–16	41
15	2004	Brisbane		July 11–18	40
16	2005	Beijing		July 10–17	50
17	2006	Rio Cuarto		July 9–16	48
18	2007	Saskatoon		July 15–22	49
19	2008	Mumbai		July 13–20	55
20	2009	Tsukuba		July 12–19	56
21	2010	Changwon		July 11–18	58
22	2011	Taipei		July 10–17	58
23	2012	Singapore		July 8–15	59
24	2013	Bern		July 14–21	62
25	2014	Bali		July 6–13	61
26	2015	Aarhus		July 12–19	62
27	2016	Hanoi		July 17–24	68
28	2017	Coventry		July 23–30	64
29	2018	Tehran		July 15–22	68
30	2019	Szeged		July 14–21	72
31	2020	Nagasaki		Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, replaced by a remotely conducted competition, the IBO Challenge 2020, and a group-based scientific project, the International Group Project. The whole competition was operated from August 11–24.	47 in both competitions (+5 in only the International Group Project)
32	2021	Lisbon		Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, replaced by a remotely conducted competition, the IBO Challenge II. The whole competition was operated from July 18–23.	72
33	2022	Yerevan		July 10–18	62
34	2023	Al Ain		July 3–11	76
35	2024	Astana		July 7–14	74
36	2025	Quezon City		July 20–27	77
37	2026	Vilnius		July 12–19
38	2027	Warsaw
39	2028
40	2029

Performance of countries

As of August 2025, the current list of countries with the best results (spanning the last 10 years) for gold medals are as follows:

Rank	Country	Gold in Last 10 contests (2016-2025)
1	China	33 (4+3+4+4+3+4+n/a+3+4+4)
2	Taiwan	32 (4+4+4+3+2+4+3+3+4+1)
3	Singapore	27 (4+3+3+3+1+1+2+4+2+4)
4	USA	23 (3+4+n/a+2+3+2+n/a+2+4+3)
5	Russia	22 (1+2+3+0+3+2+4+3+2+2)
6	South Korea	16 (2+2+3+4+1+0+0+1+2+1)
7	Iran	14 (0+n/a+2+0+0+0+4+2+3+3)
8	Vietnam	11 (1+1+3+0+1+1+0+0+3+1)
9	Germany	9 (2+1+1+0+1+0+1+2+0+1)
9	India	9 (1+0+0+0+0+0+1+4+1+2)
9	Turkey	9 (n/a+0+1+2+0+1+2+0+1+2)
12	Thailand	8 (1+0+0+1+1+1+2+0+1+1)
12	Hungary	8 (2+1+0+4+0+0+1+0+0+0)
14	Indonesia	6 (1+1+0+1+0+1+2+0+0+0)
14	Bulgaria	6 (0+1+0+0+0+2+1+1+1+0)
16	Japan	5 (1+0+0+0+1+0+1+2+0+0)
16	United Kingdom	5 (0+1+3+0+0+0+0+1+0+0)
18	Australia	4 (0+0+0+0+0+1+n/a+1+1+1)
18	Netherlands	4 (0+0+0+3+1+0+0+0+0+0)
18	Czech Republic	4 (0+1+0+0+1+1+1+0+0+0)
18	Poland	4 (0+0+1+0+0+1+1+0+0+1)
22	Hong Kong	3 (n/a+n/a+n/a+1+0+0+n/a+0+2+0)
22	Azerbaijan	3 (0+0+0+0+1+2+n/a+0+0+0)
22	Qatar	3 (n/a+n/a+0+0+n/a+3+0+0+0+0)
22	Uzbekistan	3 (0+0+0+0+1+2+0+0+n/a+n/a)Template:Refn
26	New Zealand	1 (0+1+n/a+0+n/a+0+0+0+0+0)
26	Italy	1 (0+0+0+1+n/a+0+0+0+0+0)
26	Lithuania	1 (0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0)
26	Slovenia	1 (0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0)
26	Switzerland	1 (0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0+0)
26	Pakistan	1 (0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1)
26	Armenia	1 (0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1)
26	Israel	1 (n/a+n/a+n/a+n/a+n/a+n/a+0+0+0+1)

See also

• Biology by Team
• Iranian Biology Olympiad
• USA Biology Olympiad
• International Chemistry Olympiad
• International Astronomy Olympiad
• International Physics Olympiad
• List of biology awards

External links

• Biolympiads www.biolympiads.com Template:Webarchive