Romania wins two gold medals at 2026 International Physics Olympiad amid disputed silver count
Romanian students earned two gold medals at the 56th International Physics Olympiad in Bucaramanga, Colombia, though silver medal counts vary from two to three across different reports. The event ran July 4-12 with 381 competitors from 90 countries.
Medal tally and reporting discrepancy
Romania’s performance at the 56th International Physics Olympiad (IPhO 2026) has been reported with two different medal counts. HotNews.ro and Mediafax.ro, citing the Ministry of Education and Research, state the team won two gold and three silver medals. In contrast, Libertatea initially reported only two gold and two silver medals. The discrepancy arises from the inclusion of a fifth student, Alexandru Condrea, who is listed as a silver medalist by the other two sources. The competition, held in Bucaramanga, Colombia, from July 4 to 12, brought together 381 contestants from 90 countries.
The medalists and their schools
The gold medalists are Vlad Bolohan and Andrei Vila, both students at Liceul Teoretic Internațional de Informatică in Bucharest. The silver medals, according to the more detailed reports, went to Rareș Muntean (Liceul Teoretic Ioan Jebelean, Sânnicolau Mare), Alexandru Jicu (Colegiul Național Gheorghe Vrănceanu, Bacău), and Alexandru Condrea (Liceul Teoretic Internațional de Informatică, Bucharest). Libertatea omitted Condrea from its list. All five students are recognised for their outstanding results in a field that challenges the globe’s brightest secondary-school physicists.
Coaching and official response
The Romanian team was coordinated by conf. univ. dr. Sebastian Popescu of Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza in Iași and prof. dr. Gabriel Florian of Colegiul Național Carol I in Craiova. The Ministry of Education and Research issued a statement on Sunday morning, commending the participants.
Congratulations to the students, their teachers and parents, who have supported them continuously.
The ministry also noted that it supports national teams at international olympiads by covering participation fees, travel costs and daily allowances, as well as by organising the local, county and national selection stages.
