Olympic Gold for Ireland Science Student

Dublin, 16 September 2003 ... Ireland has won a gold medal for the first time ever in this year's International Science Olympiad competitions. Sponsors IBM presented four students with University Scholarship awards today to recognise their outstanding achievements in Informatics, Chemistry, Biology and Physics.

Gold medal winner Martin Orr and bronze medal winners Paul Webster, Lauren Rutherford, Michael White have recently returned from various locations around the world where they competed against other secondary students in their respective subjects. These four exceptional students were selected for the international panel after they competed in the IBM/DCU Irish Science Olympiad competition hosted by Dublin City University (DCU) in December 2002.

Martin Orr, of the Methodist College in Belfast, is the first member of any Ireland team to win a gold medal at the prestigious competition. Travelling to the University of Wisconsin USA with and other Irish competitors, Martin was awarded a gold medal out of 259 competitors from over seventy countries in the International Olympiad in Informatics 2003. Martin is currently studying for his A-levels, and was presented with an IBM University Scholarship award worth €2,500 today.

Paul Webster, of High School Rathgar, Dublin, represented Ireland in Belarus winning a Bronze medal in the International Biology Olympiad. Lauren Rutherford, of Foyle and Londonderry College, won a Bronze medal in Greece at the International Chemistry Olympiad. Michael White of Hamilton High School, Bandon, Co Cork won a bronze medal at the International Physics Olympiad, which was held in Taiwan.

All members of the Ireland teams were tutored by DCU Science & Computing Faculties to compete in the International Olympiads and have achieved outstanding results against stiff competition from well-established industrial and scientific economies, including North America and Asia.

As the major sponsor of the annual IBM/DCU Irish Science Olympiad, IBM was keen to recognise the achievements of the Irish medal holders and held an event today at its Oldbrook House Headquarters, Dublin 4, to present the winners with their university scholarship awards.

Gold medal winner Martin Orr commented on his win: "I was very pleased to have the opportunity to travel to Wisconsin University for the 2003 International Olympiad in Informatics and even more delighted to come home with a gold medal. The competition questions were difficult but enjoyable - they all had a theme relating to farming in Wisconsin. It was great to meet so many people of my own age from all around the world who share an interest in computing, and to join in social activities with them."

During the presentation of the IBM University Scholarships Michael Daly, Country General Manager at IBM, noted that "In a time where innovation and development is vital to support the economy, these students have proved that we do have the talent in Ireland to compete on a global scale. We sincerely congratulate the students, their parents, their teachers and the faculty at DCU."

Charlie Daly, Irish Team Leader said, "Martin winning the gold IOI medal is an incredible achievement. He is a very talented young man. He took on the rest of the world in computer programming and won"

Michael Cotter, Director of the Irish Science Olympiad (DCU) commented: "All the international medal winners have achieved an amazing level of success when you consider that some countries specifically train students over many years for these event. The recognition from IBM, who have sponsored the event in Ireland for the past ten years, is well deserved and much appreciated."

Paul, Lauren and Michael are now about to embark on their university education in the areas of Natural Science (TCD), Physics with Astrophysics (Queens) and Mathematical Science (UCC) respectively.