National Geographic World Championship
1999 International Geography Olympiad
From Berlin, Buenos Aires and Bryansk, Russia, to Paris, Perth and Pembroke, Ontario, national geography champions came together in Toronto to compete in the 1999 International Geography Olympiad August 10 and 11. First-time competitors Germany and Singapore joined Argentina, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, New Zealand, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States to vie for the world geography title. The Olympiad took place at the Ontario Science Centre and included a two-part preliminary competition that consisted of a challenging outdoor map-reading exercise and a written test. The final round was moderated by Alex Trebek, host of the U.S. television quiz show Jeopardy!