Mexico Wins World National Geographic Bee

What historic site was carved from sandstone in 1200 B.C. and features two massive temples and statues of an ancient ruler?

A trio of Mexican teenagers answered correctly; the Egyptian monument Abu Simbel; to win the eighth National Geographic World Championship on Thursday, dethroning four-time champion, the United States.

"To win gold, it's really great," said team member Emanuel Johansen Campos, 15, of Tejalpa, Mexico, near Cuernavaca. "I don't have any words."

Mexico took command from the start against the two other finalists, Canada and the United States. The team correctly answered that Chinese explorer Zheng He set out on his explorations of the South Pacific and the African coast before Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro made his voyage across the Atlantic.

Mexico wound up with 34 points, three points ahead of the United States and nine points ahead of the Canadians, who stumbled when asked to identify Turkey's Lake Van on an unmarked map.

Competitors eliminated in the preliminary round included Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Taiwan, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, India, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

It was the first finals appearance for Mexico. Johansen was joined by Carlos Franco Ruiz, 14, of Zapotlan de Juarez, north of Mexico City, and team captain Angel Aliseda Alonso, 16, of Guadalajara.

Aliseda, the oldest contestant in the finals, said the three met only once before arriving in San Diego but prepared together over the telephone. He said they had not even expected to make it out of the preliminary round Tuesday.

During the competition, the team had help from a translator; the contest was in English.

The United States was defending the title it won two years ago in Budapest, Hungary. It gave up a brief advantage halfway through the hour-long contest at SeaWorld Adventure Park and then stumbled again in the finals, guessing Slovenia rather than Albania as a destination for European refugees during the Kosovo war in 1999.

The competition tests teenagers on geography, demographics and political history. Teams and individuals were asked to identify errors on maps, countries based on demographic statistics and the origin of tribal musical instruments and carved relics loaned by the San Diego Museum of Man.

The National Geographic Society holds the contest every other year. Past champions include Canada and Australia.