Road to Mount Olympia features unprecedented five-contestant final

In 2009, the ninth season of the Vietnamese academic competition ‘Road to Mount Olympia’ featured a unique final with five contestants instead of the standard four. This deviation was caused by a dispute regarding a biology question during the third quarterly competition.

During the ‘Finishing’ round, contestant Bach Dinh Thang from Nguyen Hue High School for the Gifted answered that the human body has six systems, including the endocrine system. The program's advisors initially rejected this answer, as their answer key did not recognize the endocrine system as a separate system. This decision resulted in Ho Ngoc Han from Quoc Hoc Hue High School winning the quarterly competition, while Thang finished in second place, jeopardizing his spot in the annual final.

Following the recording, Thang's family submitted a petition to the organizers, citing the Grade 8 Biology textbook which explicitly lists the endocrine system as one of the body's systems. Upon reviewing the textbook evidence, the organizers acknowledged the validity of the student's answer, leading to the unprecedented decision to include five finalists for the year-end championship.