[cmath] 50TH INTERNATIONAL MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD TEAM

[Graham Wright]

50TH INTERNATIONAL MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD TEAM

SIX STUDENTS SELECTED TO REPRESENT CANADA AT THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL 
MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD IN BREMEN, GERMANY.

OTTAWA, Ontario - Six of Canada's best high school mathematics 
students have been chosen to represent their country at the 50th 
International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). The IMO is the world 
championship mathematics competition for high school students and is 
being held this year in Bremen, Germany from July 10 to July 22, 2009.

"The six students have demonstrated the exceptional problem solving 
skills, understanding and imagination that is so vital 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 – Yu (Robin) Cheng, Pinetree Secondary School, 
Coquitlam (British Columbia); Jonathan Schneider, University of 
Toronto Schools, Toronto (Ontario); XiaoLin (Danny) Shi, Sir Winston 
Churchill High School, Calgary (Alberta); Hunter Spink, Western Canada 
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 500 of the world's best students from over 100 countries. 
The IMO competition paper, which is set by an international jury of 
mathematicians, will be written on Wednesday, July 15 and Thursday, 
July 16 and the medals awarded on Tuesday, July 21. The contest is 
written over two days, each day consisting of three questions to be 
solved within 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. Dorette Pronk 
(Dalhousie University), the Deputy Team Leader, Mr. David Arthur 
(Stanford University) and the Deputy Team Leader Observer, Mr. Jacob 
Tsimerman (Princeton University).

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, 37 silver, and 65 bronze medals. At last year's IMO 
in Madrid, Spain, the Canadian team placed 22nd out of the 97 
competing countries and won six 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 the 
University of Calgary and at the Banff International Research Station 
(BIRS) in Banff, Alberta from June 26 to July 12, 2009 and the IMO 
Team Send-off Luncheon will be held on Monday, June 29th at 12:00 PM. 
The media can meet the team at 11:00 AM on June 29th in the Rozsa 
Centre, University of Calgary. The team will leave for Germany on July 
12 and will return to Canada on July 22, 2009.

The Imperial Oil Foundation (IOF) is the Major Sponsor of the Canadian 
IMO team.  In addition to the IOF and the Canadian Mathematical 
Society, sponsors of the 2009 Canadian IMO team include:  Sun Life 
Financial; NSERC PromoScience; the Banff International Research 
Station; the Samuel Beatty Fund; Maplesoft; Nelson Thomson Learning; 
John Wiley and Sons Canada Ltd; A.K. Peters Ltd; 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; Centre de 
recherches mathématiques; the Fields Institute; the Pacific Institute 
for the Mathematical Sciences; the Department of Mathematics, 
University of British Columbia; the Department of Mathematics and 
Statistics, University of Calgary; the Department of Mathematics and 
Statistics, Dalhousie University; the Department of Mathematics and 
Statistics, University of Ottawa; the Department of Mathematics and 
Statistics, University of Regina; the Department of Mathematics, 
University of Toronto; the Centre for Education in Mathematics and 
Computing, University of Waterloo; the Department of Statistics, 
University of Waterloo; and the Department of Mathematics and 
Statistics, York University.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Graham P. Wright	or		Dr. Neal Madras
Executive Director			Chair - MCC Committee
Canadian Mathematical Society 		Department of
 					Mathematics and Statistics
Tel: (613) 733-2662, Ext. 713		York University
Cel: (613) 290-3046			Tel: (416)-736-5250
director at cms.math.ca			madras at mathstat.yorku.ca