The Russian Olympiad and what it all means

Statute 3.1.4 of the International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO) states

The Olympiad has to be organized only in town (settlement, city) with working astronomical research centres: observatories, astronomical institutes or universities with a considerable astronomical department. Other places for the Olympiad are not appropriate. At least once every three years the Olympiad has to be organized by an astronomical research centre of the historical territory of the Astronomy Olympiads (Russian Federation, Crimea or Moscow land).

In that sense, the IAO is essentially a competition that is under the control of Russia. The IAO is one of the many academical Olympiads held yearly for high school students to have a healthy competition against each other. The IAO is similar to the rest of the Olympiads, other than the field involved, except for the fact that it requires that the competition is to be held in the historical territory of the Olympiads at least once every three years. The IAO has been in existence since 1996.

Another Astronomy Olympiad in existence today is the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA). This Olympiad does not impose a condition of returning the organizing power to any body or country. It is only set up in recent years, with the inaugural event in 2007.

I wish to develop along the idea of the "monopoly" of the Russians on the IAO using James English's chapter as a lens to see why this Olympiad is set up and the possible benefits it can bring to the federation. I will bring other Olympiads into the discussion and give some attention to the IOAA using Danesi's article as another lens to show how we interpret the establishment of the IOAA as a form of rebellion against the Russian IAO.