Cristian Barrero, young man with two consecutive golds at Biology Olympics

September 21, 2024

In recent months Cuba has reached the top of the podium in knowledge olympiads thanks to the effort and talent of dozens of young people who have won medals representing the island in competitions in the most diverse disciplines. Computer science, mathematics, chemistry, biology... the list is long and Cuba has stood out in all of them.

Precisely in this last discipline, biology, Cuba obtained in recent days its best historical result. This wonderful chapter for Cuban students came with three gold medals and one silver and took place nowhere else than at home, as the knowledge competition was held this time in the Greater Antilles.

One of the gold winners was Cristian Barrero Hernández, with whom Cuba Noticias 360 had the opportunity to speak after the event. This is the second consecutive gold medal for this young student: the previous one he achieved in 2023 at the Central American and Caribbean Biology Olympiad.

For him, it was something special, for becoming the first Cuban to win two golds in biology. But the result hasn't "gone to his head"

"It doesn't make me better than others, because even the student from Pinar won the best gold at the Olympiad," he comments, although what he has achieved is no small matter. Certainly, for him, it is the fruit of perseverance and effort.

How do you train for an event of that level?

"Once the students who are going to the events are chosen in the National Pre-selection in Havana, the 4 who are going to each one are determined and we are there for a month receiving preparation from our trainers," he responds.

Perhaps because it is something obvious, Cristian doesn't comment on the long hours he has dedicated to personal study, which is also vital for this type of event. But he does point out that the preparation includes practical sessions and lectures, and even laboratory practices.

In fact, according to him, the Olympiad exams have a practical part that contributes 40% of the total score and this year they were in zoology, botany and molecular biology. There they evaluated the skills that a biologist should have in a laboratory, and in the other part of the test, the theoretical part, they faced two exams, one with 89 questions and another with 60, the latter more difficult.

Which of the exams did you do better on?

"In general in the theoretical ones I didn't have many difficulties, the practical zoology one was the one that complicated me the most."

According to Cristian, in the theoretical part Cuban students are generally very strong, due to the solidity of the preparation in that component.

Two gold medals, will the young man go in search of the third?
In the coming months several international knowledge competitions will be held, including the Central American Biology Olympiad in El Salvador, in November. However, due to the rules of these competitions, Cristian will not be able to attend that event.

What does seem fair to him is that no one has a guaranteed spot in events for having a prize or result. To participate again in competitions he must first be a winner at the national level.

"In biology olympiads the participations are unique, therefore, I can no longer go to the Central American one because I was in that one the previous year," he explains.

Equally sad is the fact that, although the International Biology Olympiad exists, Cuba has not been able to debut there due to lack of budget. "I'm sure that great things would also be achieved if we participated," he notes.

But Cristian has other short-term plans, with biology among them in October he will have to start his Mandatory Military Service, and once finished he will be able to enter university, in the career of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which is studied in Havana.

To Cristian, and to the other young Cubans who won medals in this Olympiad, success and the greatest of congratulations. Their results are those of all Cuba, where talent abounds, even though not all the conditions exist to develop it.