The 2015 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) has concluded this week in Thailand. Australia won two Gold and four Silver medals and came sixth out of 104 teams. This is the best result for Australia in 35 years of competing, the Australian team improved its ranking from 11th last year to 6th position ahead of Taiwan, the Russian Federation, Japan, Ukraine and Singapore. It should be noted that United States of America, China and the Republic of Korea finished took out the gold silver and bronze respectively while Vietnam kept Australia from a top five finish.
Adjunct Professor Mike Clapper, Executive Director of the Australian Mathematics Trust said, “At a time when maths education in particular is a concern in Australia, the outstanding achievements of these students are inspirational. They are indicative of the enormous talent and capabilities of our young people. They have repeated and exceeded last year’s extraordinary results”
Adj. Prof Clapper explained that Competing with 577 contestants from 104 countries, multi-medallist Alex Gunning scored Gold and was ranked fourth in the world. After tying for first place with a perfect score last year, he has a total of three Gold medals and a Bronze and now appears on the IMO Hall of Fame leader board. In his third IMO, 16 year-old Seyoon Ragavan was awarded Gold this year for his 19th place, adding this to his two Bronze medals. All four other team members scored Silver: Yang Song at his second Olympiad, and Jeremy Yip, Kevin Xian and Ilia Kucherov on their first attempt.
