The Israeli team – consisting of four 10th graders, all new immigrants – finished the 20th International Linguistics Olympiad, which took place last week in Bulgaria, with a bronze medal for Mikhail Iomdin - a 16-year-old boy who immigrated to Israel from Moscow a mere year and a half ago.
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This is the first time in over a decade that Israel has sent a delegation to the competition, in which 38 countries and 50 national teams participated, as well as the first time an Israeli competitor won a medal.
Video: Special shop for new immigrants from Ukraine. Credit: Gil Eliyahu
The team only made it to the championship thanks to a crowdfunding campaign launched by the youngsters who were determined to compete but did not have the support of local authorities.
Their campaign went viral and garnered widespread support, especially among olim. Together with funding from other sponsors - two new immigrant teachers and the performance agency Gradientt – the team raised the funds necessary.
Iomdin and his fellow team members skipped out on fun activities during the summer holiday and instead devoted their time to o intense preparation for the competition, determined to return with a medal.
Although Iomdin only immigrated to Israel about a year and a half ago, he speaks fluent Hebrew and cited his ability to understand the structure and rules of language as key to learning them fast.
"You don't need to know all the languages, you just need logic. It's like solving math equations. You need to know how to look at the text and the sentences, even if it's a language you've never heard of before."
Next year's International Linguistics Olympiad will be held in Brazil, with hopes that the Israeli team will receive the necessary support from the state and send a larger team to the competition. Iomdin, in turn, hopes to qualify for the national team and make Israel proud by winning another medal.
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