On November 19th, the St Petersburg State University IV International Online Olympiad in Russian as a Foreign Language ended! The University organizes these intellectual competitions since 2018, and each of them is very special. Thus, in 2023, despite a complicated political situation, the Olympiad reunited 8,770 fans of the Russian language from 144 countries. This is 43% higher than the last year, when the number of participants was 5,000 from 129 countries. This time, in spite of high level of difficulty of the tasks, the selection of winners and runners-up was especially hard: the participants’ level of preparation had increased significantly, the competition was fierce. Such dynamic (as well as numerous messages to the organizers) proves that our participants really look forward to the Olympiad as to a grand event, get prepared and master their command of the Russian language in between competitions. Almost 280 participants completed the most difficult tasks of the Second Round with a 100% result, thus setting a high standard for the rest – among them are citizens not only of Kazakhstan, Greece, Mongolia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, but also of Angola, Venezuela, Guinea, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.
The list of winners and runners-up of the Olympiad consists of 1345 participants from 107 countries. Among them, 477 foreigners won the first place, 433 and 435 people will receive diplomas of II and III degrees, respectively. By the end of 2023, each of them will receive by email a scanned copy of a personalized diploma and a voucher to take the TORFL free of charge in 2024. Now, the organizer committee is preparing the diplomas for the winners and runners-up. Remember, this document grants up to 30 points out of 100 for admission to St Petersburg University in the portfolio competition. The application process for selection for training on a budgetary basis has already started and will last until the end of February.
Since the announcements of the results, the organizers’ inbox is bursting with emotional letters: full of delight, and gratitude, and most eloquent grudge. We understand the anxiety of those who did not win any place. But on the other hand, the titles of winner and runner-up of the St Petersburg State University IV International Online Olympiad in Russian as a Foreign Language are precious exactly because they were given to few. The difference between the Olympiad and the exam is that for a positive result in the exam, one need to score enough points; this number is known in advance and verified by statistical methods. In case of a competition, there is no such idea as ‘enough’; the goal to reach is not a statistically average norm but a record. The Olympiad consists of non-standard tasks for those who want more.
We thank you for being with us. We promise that the next time will be even more interesting and we will be happy to see you participating in our other events.
