The first International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) was held in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1968. The first countries to compete consisted of members of the Eastern bloc, and in 1980 the event was expanded to Austria. The competition now boasts participation of over 60 countries, each of which selects a maximum of four representatives to compete.

The American Chemical Society (ACS), possibly the largest professional scientific organization in the nation, is responsible for culling the top students for representation at the IChO. Over 11,000 students compete at the most basic level and are filtered to a team consisting of four individuals and two alternates. Although students are grouped into teams by nationality, there is no official competition between discrete nations. The individual results of each participating nation’s team, however, are often compiled to rank national performance holistically. The “top” nation thus often refers to that which has garnered the most gold medals and the highest overall rankings.

Members of the 2005 United States IChO Team at the IChO awards ceremony (Courtsey of Allen Cheng, third from left, and author of the USNCO information)

The content tested at the IChO consists of chemistry ordinarily unavailable to high school students, even at the AP or IB level. Topics from organic, inorganic, analytical, and physical chemistry, as well as spectrometry and biochemistry, are consistently represented at each IChO. Since these topics are usually studied at the second and third year of a usual American undergraduate career, high school students will likely have had little experience with topics of such depth and breadth. Students representing the USA therefore rely on the national camp and self-study to reach a sufficient level of competency.

The US National Chemistry Olympiad and IChO are rigorous competitions that attract stellar students from across the world. Like other Olympiads, the event serves not only as a competition but also as a method of meeting future colleagues and establishing global friendships.