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The 2nd place candidate in the 2012 English Olympiad reflects on writing the exam:

Isaac Asimov, the celebrated American science fiction writer, once declared: ‘If the doctor told me I had six minutes to live, I'd type a little faster.’ Reading this quote, my mind wandered to the top-corridor English classroom where I recently wrote my last English Olympiad, with Mrs Leaver’s voice in the distance: ‘Six minutes left, everyone! Hurry along!’ Six minutes left! Lord have mercy! It wasn’t that I was worried about time; I had just finished my last piece, and was about to give it a final read-over. No; I owed my despair instead to the realisation that I would never write another Olympiad. For me, the Olympiad is more than just another exam or competition. It is protected time for creativity; a dedicated three hours devoted to writing. I only wish I could write one every day, to escape the usual chaos of our existence, to let the ink pour out of my grateful mind. F Scott Fitzgerald observed that ‘all good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.’ So dive, ye stranger! Submerge yourself in the cool green waters of your imagination, of the English language, of this moment in time!