[cmath] CANADIAN MATH STUDENTS WIN OLYMPIAD GOLD, SILVER, AND BRONZE MEDALS

[CMS Executive Director]

CANADIAN MATH STUDENTS WIN OLYMPIAD GOLD, SILVER, AND BRONZE MEDALS

Strong Performance Advances Canada’s International Ranking

OTTAWA, Ontario – In competition with students from 103 other 
countries, a team of six Canadian high school students performed 
exceptionally well, winning one gold, three silver and two bronze 
medals, at the 50th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) held in 
Bremen, Germany, from July 10^ to July 22, 2009. The strong 
performance gave Canada an overall 18^th place finish, up from 22^nd 
last year, and the highest overall student performance in over fifteen 
years.

The six Canadian students - 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 and in CEGEPs who participated in local, 
provincial and national mathematics contests.

The team was accompanied by the Team Leader Dorette Pronk (Dalhousie 
University), Deputy Team Leader David Arthur (Stanford), and Deputy 
Team Leader Observer Jacob Tsimerman (Princeton). Both David Arthur 
and Jacob Tsimerman are Canadian gold medal winners from previous IMO 
competitions.

At the Closing Ceremony on July 21, a Gold Medal was awarded to 
XiaoLin (Danny) Shi, Silver Medals to Robin Cheng, Hunter Spink, and 
Chen Sun, and Bronze Medals to Jonathan Schneider and Chengyue (Jarno) 
Sun.

"This team of Canadian students performed exceptionally well with each 
student bringing home a medal. Everyone involved in supporting the 
team is extremely proud of their achievements on the world stage" said 
Dorette Pronk.

"The IMO is the world championship high school mathematics 
competition. The problems are difficult and challenging and Canadian 
students always turn in a strong performance. This year the talent and 
creativity displayed by the students was outstanding. Everyone is 
pleased to see the training, hard work and commitment so well 
rewarded." said Dr. Graham Wright, of the Canadian Mathematical 
Society (CMS), the organization responsible for the selection and 
training of Canada’s IMO team.

Although students compete individually, country rankings are obtained 
by adding the team scores. The maximum score for each student is 42 
and for a team of six students the maximum is 252. The Canadian team 
placed 18th out of 104 competing countries with an overall score of 
158, the highest total team score in over 15 years.

The 2009 medals brings Canada’s mathematics student medal count total 
to 17 gold, 40 silver, and 68 bronze, since 1981. Prior to leaving for 
the 50^th IMO, the Canadian team trained from June 26^th to July 12^th 
at a special IMO Training Seminar held at the University of Calgary 
and at the Banff International Research Station.

The 2009 IMO contest was set by an international jury of 
mathematicians, one from each country, and was written on Wednesday 
July 15 and Thursday July 16. On each day of the contest, three 
questions had to be solved within a time limit of four and a half 
hours. Student participants must be less than 20 years old when they 
write the IMO.

For the 2009 competition, the top 10 teams and their scores are:

People’s Republic of China (221); Japan (212); Russian Federation 
(203), Republic of Korea (188); Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 
(183); United States of America (182); Thailand (181); Turkey (177); 
Germany (171); and Belarus (167).

The team will be returning to Canada today (July 22), in Toronto, 
London, Calgary, and Vancouver. For further details contact the 
Canadian Mathematical Society.

In addition to the Canadian Mathematical Society, sponsors of the 2009 
Canadian IMO team include: the Imperial Oil Foundation; 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.

The 51st International Mathematical Olympiad will take place in 
Astana, Kazakhstan, in July 2010.

For more information, contact:
Dr. Graham P. Wright
Canadian Mathematical Society
613-290-3046 (Cell)
director at cms.math.ca

www.cms.math.ca/Competitions/