[cmath] SIX STUDENTS SELECTED TO REPRESENT CANADA AT THE 2008 INTERNATIONAL

[Graham Wright]

NEWS RELEASE

49TH INTERNATIONAL MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD TEAM

SIX STUDENTS SELECTED TO REPRESENT CANADA AT THE 2008 INTERNATIONAL 
MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD IN MADRID, SPAIN.

Six of Canada's best high school mathematics students have been chosen 
to represent their country at the 49th International Mathematical 
Olympiad (IMO). The IMO is the world championship mathematics 
competition for high school students and is being held this year in 
Madrid, Spain from July 10 to July 22, 2008.

"The six students have demonstrated the exceptional problem solving 
skills, understanding and imagination that is so necessary to compete 
against the very best at the international level," said Dr. Graham 
Wright, Executive Director of the Canadian Mathematical Society, the 
organization responsible for the selection and training of Canada's 
IMO team. "They represent the best of our students and will be 
excellent representatives for Canada".

The six students Yan (Cynthia) Li, Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate 
Institute, Scarborough (Ontario); Alexander Remorov, William Lyon 
Mackenzie Collegiate Institute, North York (Ontario); Jonathan 
Schneider, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto (Ontario); XiaoLin 
(Danny) Shi, Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary (Alberta); 
Chen Sun A.B. Lucas Secondary School, London (Ontario) and Chengyue 
(Jarno) Sun, Western Canada High School, Calgary (Alberta)  were 
selected from among more than 200,000 students in grades 7 to 12 (plus 
CEGEP) who participated in local, provincial and national mathematics 
contests.

The Canadian team members, who must be less than 20 years old when 
they write the IMO competition, will be pitting their skills against 
more than 450 of the world's best students from over 90 countries. The 
IMO competition paper, which is set by an international jury of 
mathematicians, will be written on Wednesday, July 16 and Thursday, 
July 17 and the medals awarded on Monday, July 21. The contest 
consists of two exams, each consisting of three questions on each day 
with a time limit of four and one-half hours. "It is a highly 
challenging mathematical hexathlon and these are our Canadian 
mathletes," commented Wright.

The team will be accompanied by the Team Leader, Dr. Felix Recio 
(University of Toronto), the Deputy Team Leader, Mr. Yufei Zhao 
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and the Deputy Team Leader 
Observer, Ms. Lindsey Shorser (University of Toronto).

Canada first sent a team to an IMO competition in 1981 (Washington, 
USA). Since then, Canadian students have done very well, receiving a 
total of 16 gold, 35 silver, and 61 bronze medals. At last year's IMO 
in Hanoi, Vietnam, the Canadian team placed 27th out of the 93 
competing countries and won four medals.

"These competitions allow Canadian high school students to compete 
with the best from the many other countries," said Dr. Neal Madras, 
York University, Chair of the CMS Mathematical Competitions Committee. 
"It should be noted that Canadian students do very well even though in 
many countries high school finishes at age 19."

The six students will be attending a special IMO Training Camp at 
Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo from June 27 to July 9, 2008 
and the IMO Team Send-off Luncheon will be held at the Fields 
Institute, 222 College Street, Toronto, on June 27th at 12:00 PM. The 
media can meet the team from 11:00 a.m. at the Fields Institute. The 
team will leave for Spain on July 9 and will return to Canada on July 
22.

Sponsors of the 2008 Canadian IMO team include: the Imperial Oil 
Foundation; Sun Life Financial; the Canadian Mathematical Society; 
NSERC PromoScience; the Samuel Beatty Fund; Maplesoft; the Ontario 
Ministry of Education; Alberta Learning; Manitoba Education, 
Citizenship and Youth; Nova Scotia Department of Education; the 
Newfoundland and Labrador Ministry of Education; the Northwest 
Territories Ministry of Education; the Saskatchewan Ministry of 
Education; Sun Life Financial; Centre de recherches mathématiques; the 
Fields Institute; the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences; 
the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Calgary; 
the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New 
Brunswick at Fredericton; the Department of Mathematics and 
Statistics, University of Ottawa; the Department of Mathematics, 
University of Toronto; the Centre for Education in Mathematics and 
Computing, University of Waterloo; the Department of Mathematics, 
Wilfrid Laurier University; and the Department of Mathematics and 
Statistics, York University.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Graham P. Wright
Executive Director
Canadian Mathematical Society
Tel: (613) 562-5702
Cel: (613) 290-3046

director at cms.math.ca

or

Dr. Neal Madras
Chair - MCC Committee
Department of Mathematics
York University
Tel: (416)-736-5250

madras at mathstat.yorku.ca

-- 
Susan Latreille
Assistant to the Executive Director
Canadian Mathematical Society
Adjointe au directeur
Société mathématique du Canada
Tel: 613.562.5800 x 3484