The International Mathematical Olympiad is a world championship maths competition for pre-university students and the oldest of the International Science Olympiads, and the most prestigious maths competition in the world. It has been held annually, unlike the Olympics, in different countries since the first event in 1959 in Romania, except for 1980. Today, the competition has over 100 participating countries. Each country sends a team of up to six students, with one team leader, one deputy leader, and observers in addition.
Countries choose their teams using different qualification tests. In the UK, the best students from the British Mathematical Olympiad can do advanced training camps in Cambridge and Oundle (Northamptonshire) to try and get onto the team. Participants must be under 20 years old, and have no tertiary education.
The unique event brings together the brightest young minds from around the world for them represents the culmination of many years of mathematical endeavour and hundreds of attempts at solving problems. The competition aims to give “all participants to have opportunities to enjoy the company of like-minded young people from around the world and make memories and friendships that would last a lifetime.”
What is the maths like?
The competition consists of 6 problems, each worth 7 points, held over two consecutive days with 3 problems each. Students are given four and a half hours to solve each problem. The problems are taken from various fields of secondary school mathematics, including very difficult algebra and pre-calculus to branches of mathematics not conventionally covered at secondary level like projective and complex geometry, functional equations, combinatorics and well-grounded number theory, which require extensive knowledge of theorems. Calculus is allowed in solutions but never required, as the questions in the Olympiad have a principle of being able to be understood with basic mathematics, even if the solutions are more difficult.
Who has competed? Where has the IMO been held?
The International Mathematical Olympiad is held annually in a different country.
The competition was originally founded for eastern European countries in the Warsaw Pact, and seven countries competed in the first Olympiad in Romania — Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union. Its eastern origin is the reason the first IMOs were held in eastern Europe, before it spread gradually to other nations. The United States started competing in 1974 and the 1979 edition was held in London, signs of the détente in the Cold War. Since then, it has been held in over 30 countries, and over 100 from 5 different continents have participated.
The competition is typically organised around a university, and university towns as well as major cities are common venues for the Olympiad. The IMO Board ensures that the competition takes place each year and that each host country observes the regulations and traditions of the IMO.
The Awards and Scoring
Prizes are rewarded individually for the top scoring participants, based on their score out of 42, with medals being presented to around half of the candidates. A few medals can be awarded: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Gold is the most challenging to obtain, with only 54 being awarded out of the 618 participants in 2023. These medals are distributed in the rough ratio of 1:2:3. Sometimes, Special medals are awarded for incredible solutions to the problems, and starting in 2020, the mentors of medal winners also receive honary medals as a gift for their effort and dedications helping the candidates.
Each country is then ranked based on these medals to produce a medal table.
Who has been successful?
Many countries have been successful at the Olympiad. In the past few years, China has earned the most medals, with every single member of China’s team continously winning a Gold Medal ever year since 2019. The USA has came 2nd in terms of medals in 2023, and has been in close competition with China for the number 1 position.
Many high scoring participants go on to win highly prestigious medals, like the Field’s medal of mathematics or the Knuth Prize for Computer Science, and have great careers in the world of mathematics. There are also many young people who are renowned for the number of medals they have won in the competition, like Zhuo Qun Song, who has won 5 Gold Medals in the competiton.
How is the United Kingdom and the UKMT involved?
The United Kingdom is the 10th most successful country at the Olympiad, and as of 2023 has hosted the event three times, and will for a fourth time in 2024.
The United Kingdom Mathematics Trust, the UKMT, is essential in selecting participants for the British team, as well as working with and mentoring them.