Minutes of the Meetings of the International Board during the XXXIV International Physics Olympiad
in Taipei (Taiwan) August 2 - 11, 2003

1. The following 54 countries were present at the 34th International Olympiad:
Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil,Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, The Czechlands, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Kazakhstan,Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Mongolia, The Netherlands, Norway,Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia & Montenegro, Singapore,Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, USA andVietnam.
As Luxembourg has not participated in three last Olympiads, the next organisers are not obliged
to invite it to the competition (According to §2 of the Statutes such countries should be treated as"new" countries in the future).
2. Results of marking the papers by the organisers were presented.
The best score (42,30 points) was achieved by Pavel Batrachenko from USA (Absolute winnerof the 34th IPhO). The following limits for awarding the medals and the honourable mention
were established according to the Statutes:
Gold Medal

Silver MedalBronze Medal
Honourable Mention

33 points
27 points
22 points
16 points

According to the limits 20 Gold Medals, 39 Silver Medals, 38 Bronze Medals and 56
Honourable Mentions were awarded. The list of the scores of the winners and the students
awarded with honourable mentions were distributed to all the delegations.

3. In addition to the regular prizes the following special prizes were awarded:

for the best score (Absolute winner)o Pavel Batrachenko (USA)for the best score in the experimental part of the competition:o Pavel Batrachenko (USA)o Thaned Pruttivarasin (Thailand)
for the best score in the theoretical part of the competition:o Daniel Robert Gulotta; (USA)for the best score among female participants:o Emily Ruth (USA)for the best participant from the countries which joined the IPhO in the last three years (Prize ofthe President of the IPhOs):
o Umair Sadiq (Pakistan)

4. During grading the students. solutions the local graders consulted some problems concerninginterpretation of the criteria etc. with the following three leaders designated to this work by theInternational Board: Prof. Jan Mostowski (Poland), Dr. Eli Raz (Israel) and Prof. Sung-Won
Kim (South Korea).
5. Dr. Waldemar Gorzkowski has been unanimously re-elected to the post of President of theIPhO for the next five years. He declared continuation of his activity in the same style as until
present: ensuring continuity of the competition, keeping high standards of the Olympic
documents, co-operation with the organizers of subsequent Olympiads, popularising the IPhOs,
keeping contacts with national and regional Physics Olympiads and keeping purely educational
character of the IPhOs by keeping the IPhOs far from any politics.
6. The International Board discussed a proposal formulated by Prof. Jan Mostowski (Poland),aiming to avoid hyperinflation of the Olympic trophies and ensure predictability of the numberof Medals of different categories. The new system of awarding Medals and Honourable
Mentions was implemented for the first time in Bali (last year) and resulted in unexpectedly
great number of Gold Medals. As this year the new system worked properly (due to smallorganisational changes not forbidden by the Statutes), the International Board decided topostpone discussion to the future.
7. President of the IPhOs presented a table with the future organizers of the IPhOs. At present thenearest .free year. is 2022.
8. Dr. Hans Jordens informed (preliminarily) the International Board about the 2nd Congressof the World Federation of Physics Competitions (it is scheduled on April 2004) and about a
new home page of the Federation: www.ifpan.edu.pl/wfphc . The page (localized on the server in
the Institute of Physics in Warsaw) is maintained by Dr. Pawe. Janiszewski and Prof. JanMostowski.
9. Prof. Juan Leon (Spain) informed the International Board about present state of preparationof the 36th International Physics Olympiad in Salamanca in 2005.
10. President of the IPhO, acting on behalf of all the participants, expressed deep thanks to Prof.
Maw-Fa Chien (Chairman of the Organizing Committee), Prof. Ming-Juey Lin (Executive
Secretary of the Organizing Committee), Prof. Shang-Fang Tsai, Prof. John Cheng-Chung
Chi, Prof. Hong-Ming Guo, Prof. Gwo-Jen Jan, Prof. Chih-Ta Chia and others for very good
preparation and very good execution of the 34th International Physics Olympiad. Deep thanks
were also conveyed to the top authorities of the country, all the sponsors, graders, guides andother people who contributed to the success of the Olympiad. The International Board decided
that President of the IPhOs would issue special diplomas to the most active persons who ensured
success of the Olympiad in especially difficult conditions created by the SARS panic.

11. One should underline that the 34th IPhO was honoured with presence of His Excellency
Mister Chen Shui-Bian, President of Taiwan, at the Opening Ceremony, who gave the openingaddress.
12. Acting on behalf of the organisers of the next International Physics Olympiad Prof. Dr.
Zheong G. Khim (South Korea) announced that the 35th International Physics Olympiad will beorganised in Pohang, on July 15th . 23rd, 2003 and cordially invited all the participatingcountries to attend the competition. Printed materials about the Olympiad in Pohang have been
disseminatedtoallthedelegations.

.........................................
Prof.
Ming-Juey
Executive Secretary of34th IPhO

Taipei, 11 August 2003.........................................

.........................................

Maija
Ahtee
Lin Dr. Waldemar Gorzkowski Prof.
the President of the IPhOs Secretary of the IPhOs.

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