TAIPEI - Taiwanese students won five golds in the 2010 International Physics Olympiad, launching Taiwan into third place among the 82 countries that participated in the event, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said yesterday.

Since Taiwan's entry in 1994 into the global competition for high school students, its performance has been excellent, the MOE said. So far, Taiwan had bagged 37 golds, 19 silvers, 18 bronzes and eight honorable citations, it said.

This year, the five Taiwanese competitors were selected from among 4,036 aspirants in a two tier process and trained by local physicists headed by National Normal University Professor Lin Ming-jui, the MOE said.

The International Physics Olympiad was first held in Warsaw, Poland in 1967 as one of the International Science Olympiads for high school students.

Each national delegation is made up of five students and two leaders selected on a national level. The students compete as individuals and must sit for intensive theoretical and laboratory examinations.

A total of 410 students from 82 countries around the world took part in this year's event that was held in Zagreb, Croatia from July 17 to 25.

-The China Post/Asia News Network