Number 281 (Story #2), July 29, 1996 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein THE PHYSICS OLYMPIAD IN OSLO , like the sports Olympiad in Atlanta, asks teenagers to race, hurdle, and vault past well-trained competitors from around the world. In Norway the obstacles were all on paper. In one event, for example, the participants were required to determine the size of tides on Earth in the plane of the Moon's orbit, while not neglecting to allow for the Earth's rotation. Teams from 55 countries came to the Olympiad, which ended July 7. China collected the greatest number of points, with Romania as runnerup. The U.S. was third, followed by Russia, Vietnam, Germany, and Iran. The five American students all won medals; gold-medalist Christopher Hirata of Deerfield, Illinois, aged 13, got an award for being the youngest medalist. (For more information contact Dwight E. Neuenschwander, AIP, 301-209-3010.)