Wrestler pins down academic Olympiad victory in Hungary
Wrestling is a sport that can be as mentally demanding as it is physically.
The discipline required can also be used to help an athlete in other situations that require mental toughness. If one can succeed in wrestling, he can probably do so in an international academic competition.
Just ask Suhas Chundi, who owns an IHSAA state wrestling medal and a gold medal from the International Biology Olympiad. The incoming senior at Carmel High School competed at the IBO, which took place July 14-21 in Szeged, Hungary.
Carmel’s Suhas Chundi has found success as a wrestler and at the International Biology Olympiad. The incoming senior finished fourth in the state last winter at the IHSAA meet, and earned a gold medal at the Olympiad, which took place earlier this month in Szeged, Hungary. (Photo provided)
Chundi talked about his experience in Carmel’s wrestling room, a place where his practice and dedication helped him earn a fourth-place medal at last year’s state wrestling meet at 106 pounds. It was easy for him to see the comparisons between wrestling and biology competitions.
“When you think about the mindset, they’re really just the same, where you go to practice, you do what you’re supposed to do and then you’re done with practice and you keep your body ready,” said Chundi. “Wrestling is like a 24-hour sport, and so is studying, kind of.”
The process of getting all the way to the IBO is similar to the state wrestling meet. It started in February with an open exam, in which Chundi said around 10,000 students participated.
“The top 10 percent of that get invited to the semi-final, and then the top 20 kids get invited to a training camp, and at the end of the camp, there’s two days of tests and that determines who goes to the International Biology Olympiad,” said Chundi.
The top four students qualify to be on “Team USA” for the Olympiad. Chundi said he felt like an underdog “at almost every step except for the first one.”
“The thing about this is, it’s a pretty big deal if you make it to camp or especially if you make it to IBO, and then you get a gold,” said Chundi. “Each time I was like ‘This is crazy, I’m really here.’ And then it just kept getting better.”
At the Olympiad, competitors must complete two three-hour written examinations, then go through four 90-minute “practicals,” or laboratories. The topics for this year were neurobiology, molecular biology, biochemistry and animal anatomy and physiology. Chundi said it was similar to entry-level college course topics.
“The international, I felt like I could do a little better,” said Chundi. “But I got a gold medal, which they give to the top 10 percent and I’m really grateful for that. My exact rank was 25th place.”
Chundi holds a 4.7 grade-point average and scored a 1590 on his SAT.
“He’s more than just a smart guy,” said Carmel head wrestling coach Ed Pendoski. “Just about in everything. Physical, mental, technical. You’ve got to have those three things to win a wrestling match.”
Those same attributes apply to doing well in an academic competition.
“You have to have a genetic ability to be able to do that,” said Chundi. “You have to have work habits, and then you have to have the support group that can put around opportunities for you to be able to study at the way that he studies. You put those three things together with his gifts of what he has IQ-wise is pretty special.”
Chundi said that the competition took up two days of the seven-day stay in Szeged, a town of about 160,000 located in far southern Hungary. It’s a college town, the home of the University of Szeged, recognized as one of the top universities in Europe.
Chundi and his peers got to tour the city, and Budapest, the capital of Hungary. He called it a really interesting experience to see a different country.
“You make a lot of friends,” said Chundi. “A lot of Facebook followers now.”
The medal he got at the Olympiad was the second of the year for Chundi, after his fourth-place medal at the state wrestling meet. When he was wrestling at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for state, Chundi said he blocked the “big deal-ness” out of his brain “and tried to treat every match like any other match.”
“The same coaches were in my corner,” said Chundi. “I was working mostly the same moves and it was just the same opponent, in my mind, in front of me. So it didn’t really hit me until I was on the podium.”
Chundi will be back for his senior year and has already started the process of applying for colleges.
“Pretty big decision,” said Chundi. “I’ve started my application, but it’s very open-ended right now.”