What does it feel like to get a gold medal at the Patent Olympiad? To be suddenly joining the hall of fame and recognized as the best searcher of the moment ?

To find out more on this, we had a chat with Manolis Chrysallos, who was a winner of this prestigious prize in one of the previous games. I first of all wonder why he did sign up for the competition in the first place, and if he had any particular preparations before taking on the contest?

Mostly for fun, as I was attending the CEPIUG conference anyway. So meet up other searchers, socialize and participate in a fun contest made the experience more enjoyable. Preparations? Not really, just talking to some colleagues that had participated in previous competitions.

We discuss a lot on how expectations might ruin the intellectual “flow”, and that you should be simply open for what may come, Don´t build up any thoughts in advance that may hamper the experience. Just like in any search where you start unbiased and then focus and adapt in view of what is found along the way. 

For me, the day before the competition, I just tried to not have any expectations and influences. I remember leaving the gathering early and then floated around in the hotel pool half the night.

I ask Manolis what was toughest, taking on the game. He pauses for a while, trying to remember that moment in time. He concludes that it was like sitting an exam, you really need to plan the time resources properly, do all parts as best as you can.

The toughest part was to get all the three tasks ready in time, 3 hours just flies away. I did never really think of winning it, but did finish off the tasks in time at least. But you know how it is after, one moment it feels like you did it, the other you think it was all a mess.

Apparently, Manolis was already not hooked on a feeling to win during the competition, but turned it out to be a success in the end. We come to talk of what it is like to win. Even though this is more of a fun event “only” including all the tough elements of searching, being the best is always being the best. Manolis has a smile on his face, stating that it was indeed something special to be named the Olympic gold medalist in searching. 

It made me really happy and proud! Probably my peak point of my searching career. It was nice to see so many people watching me get the trophy, applauding and congratulating. Even my manager was also very happy about it, so a good thing as well.

So will Manolis repeat the effort and try to gain more medals in the next Olympiad? 

For sure sometime in the future, but this year I leave to my colleagues to take on challenge of winning the competition.

Manolis closes the zoom call by saying everyone should join in, and we conclude that it is always good to try out your skills, in whatever format it may be. We speculate briefly who the winner 2023 may be, still to be decided in September...